📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Altai Yellow (Altayskiy Zheltyy)
- 🌍 Origin: A classic Siberian/Altai regional heirloom from Russia. Available from several commercial seed companies (like “Siberian Garden”), but many collectors grow specific heirloom strains (like the ones from collector Yashchenko).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Often classified as a tall determinate or semi-determinate, growing to about 1.5 – 1.7 m (5 – 5.5 ft) before naturally stopping its growth (topping itself). Note: Some strains feature beautiful Potato Leaf (PL) foliage!
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, flattened-round (oblate) yellow-orange beefsteaks, weighing 250-500 g (9-18 oz). Interestingly, many growers report a distinct pink/red blush or “tie” in the center of the flesh, giving it bicolor characteristics.
- 💪 Standout Feature: Highly resistant to cracking! In rainy or fluctuating weather when other varieties split open, Altai Yellow often remains perfectly intact.
- 👅 Flavor: Superb. Juicy, sweet, with a perfectly balanced hint of acidity and a rich, traditional tomato aroma.
Mid-early season.
Determinate (tall) – 1.5 to 1.7 m (5 to 5.5 ft).
Mine grew to exactly 1.7 m (5.5 ft) in the greenhouse and then completely stopped growing (I would say it “topped itself”).
Seeds sown for seedlings – March 10th.
First fully ripe fruit picked – July 2nd.
Fruit weight was between 250-500 g (9-18 oz).
This was one of the very few varieties this year whose fruits did not crack at all.
My opinion: very tasty. Not bland, very juicy, with a nice sweetness balanced by just a little acidity, and very aromatic. A real, proper tomato! 🙂
Svetik, which seed company were your seeds from?
I just haven’t gotten around to trying these yet (by the way, the description on my packet perfectly matches your real-life results), maybe it’s finally time?…
Esme wrote:
Svetik, which seed company were your seeds from?
Galina, I completely forgot whose exact seeds I had. I got three seeds at a seed-swap meetup, and this one bush grew from them. I will double-check.
Update: I checked. They were from the private collection of Yashchenko, harvested in 2007.
God willing, we will be able to grow them both and compare.
Origin of my seeds—from Ilya (ilja):
Potato leaf (PL) foliage, the taste is excellent. I liked it very much!
My Altai Yellow was also a great success. In the greenhouse, it grew over 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall! The bushes turned out to be heavy yielders. The fruits were large, very tasty, sweet, and juicy. Some of them had a red “tie” (blush) in the center when sliced. There were also a few fruits with a slight hint of tartness in the flavor. That was probably due to the unpredictable weather.
This year, my Altai Yellow also developed a red “tie” and a slight hint of tartness. It became so beautiful:
Mine also had a pink core!
