📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Albenga Oxheart
- 🌍 Origin: A classic Italian heirloom from the Liguria region. Popularized among collectors by Dale Thurber (Delectation of Tomatoes). Important distinction: This is the smooth, classic oxheart version, not to be confused with “Cuore di Bue di Albenga,” which is a deeply ribbed, pear-shaped (pouch) variety.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Very vigorous, productive, and boasts excellent disease resistance. Notably, growers report it performs surprisingly well even in shaded or less-than-ideal greenhouse spots.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful, glossy red, classic heart-shaped fruits. They typically weigh up to 350 g (12 oz). The flesh is very meaty and dense with small seed cavities and few seeds.
- 👅 Flavor: Highly rated. It delivers a pronounced, rich, and sweet traditional tomato flavor. Consistently ranks as a favorite red oxheart among long-time growers.
Albenga Oxheart (USA source).
A very beautiful and productive heart-shaped variety. Not to be confused with Cuore di Bue di Albenga, which has a ribbed, pouch-like shape—that is a completely different variety.
The fruits are red, glossy, beautifully shaped hearts weighing up to 350 g (12 oz). Very good flavor, meaty, with a small amount of seeds. It grew in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems, and set fruit very well despite difficult weather conditions. Seeds were from Masha-Murka. A must-grow for repeat seasons! 😍
I’ve been planting this variety for 2 years in a row now. Thanks to Milochka for the seeds. Mine turn out very tasty and sweet!
Very tasty. I will definitely be repeating this one. Seeds were from Svetik.
Mine turned out like this. It was a heavy yielder, and the fruits were large and red. Seeds from Svetik. It grew in the sunniest and hottest spot in my garden.
I had the seeds sitting around for a long time. I bought them from Angelina. Only one single seed germinated, and the seedling only had half of a cotyledon leaf. Usually, I throw such mutants straight in the trash, but I didn’t have any more seeds of this variety left, so I kept it.
The bush was frail and flimsy. I had zero expectations for it. But it rewarded me! I am absolutely delighted with it. I can only imagine what it would have produced if it had been a fully healthy seedling from the start! I’m definitely growing it again. There are still green fruits hanging on it right now, quite a lot of them, and they are fairly large. And keep in mind, its spot in the greenhouse is the darkest one possible. Almost no light gets there—there’s a fence blocking one side and a shed on the other.
A variety from Dale Thurber’s collection.
Dale’s description:
Early Italian heirloom from Liguria. The variety is highly productive and resistant to diseases. The tomatoes possess a good, pronounced traditional tomato flavor. Indeterminate growth and beautiful foliage. This variety now holds IGP status in Italy.
Albenga Oxheart
It remains one of the best red hearts in my garden in terms of the combination of flavor, beauty, and yield. It produces fruit all the way up to the greenhouse ceiling!
This variety has been among my absolute favorites for over 10 years now.
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