Quick Summary of Chernyi Maslyanistyi (Black Buttery)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian/Eastern European heirloom variety. The name translates directly to “Black Buttery” (or “Buttery Black”), hinting at its texture and color.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. In a greenhouse, it easily exceeds 2 meters (6.5 ft), but stays more compact (about 1.2–1.7 m / 4–5.5 ft) when grown outdoors. Notably, it has lighter green foliage and light unripe fruits, which is quite unusual for dark-fruited varieties. It boasts excellent resistance to Leaf Mold (Cladosporium).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks. Average weight is around 150–300 g (5–10.5 oz), but they can easily reach up to 500–600 g (17.5–21 oz). The color transitions from reddish-brown to a distinct brick-red shade when fully overripe.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Very juicy, meaty, and highly rated for taste. While the name promises a “buttery” texture, growers note that you might have to use your imagination to feel it, though it heavily depends on growing conditions and soil.
- ⏳ Maturity: Early to mid-season. Some growers report it being the very first dark tomato to hit the breaker stage in their garden.
Vigorous indeterminate, fruits are oblate (flat-round), red-brown. When overripe, they turned a brick-red shade… weight 300-500g (10.5-17.5 oz), juicy. The yield is very good.
Thanks to Zhanna for the seeds! 🌺
Tasty, juicy tomato. For me, it wasn’t very tall. But the yield was just 2 trusses with 7 fruits total, then silence. I pruned it to 2 stems.
I agree, the tomato is tasty. At first, it gave 5 pieces, and in September another 6. The weight is somewhere around 400-600 grams (14-21 oz).
Quote from cat2008:
…when overripe they turned a brick-red shade…
Ohhh! So I’m not the only one having color miracles with dark-fruited tomatoes 😉
About the variety… Seeds from Tatyana 🌺 I bought into the name – both black and buttery 😉 and large-fruited too!
As a result, this year it also turned out to be the earliest of the dark-fruited ones – they started turning brown (breaker stage) in early July, the first ones ripened by July 7th. Average weight ~150g (5.3 oz), the largest was 473g (16.7 oz). Moreover, at the end of the season, it became one of the most productive. Juicy, tasty… as for the butteriness… – I don’t remember 🤷♂️ The bush – a vigorous indeterminate >2m (6.5 ft) tall in the greenhouse. I want to repeat growing it.
A worthy variety, I’ve been growing it for two years, and I haven’t been disappointed. The seeds were originally from L. Radyno. To heck with the butteriness, the main advantage of the variety for me is its low susceptibility to Cladosporium (Leaf Mold). The bushes stay green until the very end. Well, and the yield is good, a large tasty tomato. The foliage is not dark, and the unripe fruits are also light-colored, which is uncharacteristic for dark-fruited varieties. A tall indeterminate, it sets uniform fruits both at the bottom and on the upper trusses.
A super productive variety 👍 Grew outdoors in open ground, and despite this abnormal summer, it set a ton of large juicy tomatoes.
Quote from Nadia:
A super productive variety 👍 Grew outdoors in open ground, and despite this abnormal summer, it set a ton of large juicy tomatoes.
Nadya, was it very tall outdoors in open ground?
Quote from Elena 62:
Nadya, was it very tall outdoors in open ground?
No, not tall, somewhere around 1.2m (4 ft).
I liked the tomato. The height was about 170 cm (5.5 ft), the yield is not bad. Tasty, juicy. As for the butteriness – uhhhh… only if you really want to imagine it. Although it is quite possible that in other conditions it will be buttery.
I continue to rustle through seed packets and look at (if any) photos…. But isn’t he gorgeous?! I tried to lead it into two stems, but then it turned out there were more. Very – very productive and tasty! Photo from August 11th. !
