Quick Summary of Yantarnyi (Amber)
- 🌍 Origin: A well-known Russian commercial/heirloom variety. The name translates to “Amber,” referring to its bright yellow-orange color. Note: It is sometimes sold under variations like “Yantarnyi 530”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush/tree-type). It is highly compact, rugose, and very sturdy. It does not strictly require pruning or suckering, making it extremely low-maintenance. Great for open ground and even container growing.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Round, bright yellow/amber fruits. Size can vary based on soil and growing conditions, ranging from large cherry/cocktail size (under 50g / 1.7 oz) up to 180g (6.3 oz) in optimal greenhouse environments. Occasionally, fruits may develop a slight pink blush.
- 👅 Flavor & Culinary Use: Very juicy and sweet. Considered excellent for an ultra-early variety. Often eaten fresh in early summer salads, and perfectly sized for whole-fruit canning, looking beautiful mixed in jars with red tomatoes.
- ⏳ Maturity: Ultra-early to early season. Often the very first tomato to ripen in the garden.
I know that small tomatoes have few fans. But I am one of them. I like unpretentious bushes with tasty and juicy little tomatoes. This will be my fourth year growing Yantarnyi (Amber). For two years it was just a yellow, juicy, tasty little tomato for me. Very early. But last year it threw out this pink blush on its side. The bush is tree-type (determinate/sturdy), it doesn’t need its suckers removed. But as I wrote before, I still remove all suckers up to the first flower cluster.
“Yantarnyi” on Yandex.Photos
Vera, just how small are the tomatoes, like cherries?
No Sveta, but for me they don’t quite reach 50 gm (1.7 oz). Perhaps if they weren’t grown in pure sand, they would be larger.
A perfectly good size, just right for canning in jars.
Yes, for jars it is the most useful size! 👍
My Yantarnyi in 2010 looked like this:
Grew in a greenhouse, yielded 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) per bush, the maximum fruit weight was 180! g (6.3 oz).
In subsequent years it grew outdoors in buckets, yield was 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) per bush, maximum fruit weight 106 g (3.7 oz).
It has always been my very earliest variety. Taste is a B minus, which is very good for early varieties. Fruit clusters form after every leaf, I don’t prune suckers.
Once, a sucker that shot up from under the soil (meaning it grew after one of the very first leaves), which I transplanted into a bucket, yielded 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) all on its own.
I really like this variety. Juicy, sweet, prolific. I love it for canning, both on its own and especially mixed with red ones of a suitable size. The bush is compact.
I also like this variety, but mine is not small, it’s medium-sized.
This year I sowed Yantarnyi from seeds by the “Mars” company. The fruits are still green, but the bush looks like the ‘Morkovnyi’ (Carrot) variety. The leaf is very finely cut/lacy. Exactly like a carrot leaf. 😲
I think my father-in-law used to grow Yantarnyi a long time ago. Delicate, sweet, salad-type.
Can someone post a photo of it sliced open?
Alla, does it fall apart in the jars when fully ripe? Or do you can them while they’re still firm?
Isn’t the ‘Nizhegorodskiy Kudyablik’ variety just a clone of this?
Are “Yantarnyi” and “Yantarnyi 530” different varieties? I have “Yantarnyi 530” from “Batatovye Kuschi” (Sweet Potato Bushes). The leaf is a regular tomato leaf, when it’s small it looks exactly like a potato plant.
My Yantarnyi outdoors in open ground. My grandchildren declared it the tastiest among the early ones, though personally, I had other favorites.
Edited October 1, 2021 by alio-nka
