Black Heart with a Spout from Borisovna Legendary Tomato Review

T@tk@ wrote:
Natalya Borisovna, does this one look like it? Most of my bushes have tomatoes like this.

My Black Heart produced completely different fruits this year. They are heart-shaped with a small elongated spout, dark-colored.

Out of all the dark varieties, it showed the highest yield. In taste, it yielded only to Black from Tula (Chernyi iz Tuly).

Special thanks to Natalya Borisovna for this variety. I will grow it permanently now.

T@tk@ wrote:
Natalya Borisovna, does this one look like it? Most of my bushes have tomatoes like this.

Fruits from a fused megabloom can have that shape, usually on the first or second truss, and the weight is usually around 600-700 grams (1.3-1.5 lbs), but mostly they have a proper heart shape with an elongated spout.

The color rendering in your photo is correct. When picked, the fruits are brownish with an orange tint. After a couple of days of storage, they become darker with a burgundy-brown tint, and that’s when they are the tastiest. This tomato was picked ripe 10 days ago, it is still firm and hasn’t turned to mush, as sometimes happens with oxheart varieties during storage.

Sergey-EKB wrote:
…In taste, it yielded only to Black from Tula.

Sergey, thanks for the tip, I will try growing Black from Tula. This year I grew Linnaeus Heart, it tastes very similar to Black Heart with a Spout, but for me, it lost out on yield, size, and health. I will try to tame it.

Borisovna wrote:
Fruits from a fused megabloom can have that shape… but mostly they have a proper heart shape with an elongated spout.

Yes, the rest of the fruits are heart-shaped. I just photographed the largest one.

Borisovna wrote:
This tomato was picked ripe 10 days ago, it is still firm…

But mine had flesh that was too loose and very watery, when I picked it, it wasn’t very firm to the touch. Maybe it was already overripe? You probably need to pick them as soon as they color up?

I peeled off the skin, and you can see stripes underneath too))

T@tk@ wrote:
But mine had flesh that was too loose and very watery…

It’s almost lunchtime, I cut one open to show what mine looks like, it’s definitely not loose and not watery.

I took pictures with 3 different cameras, this one has the most accurate color rendering.

Borisovna wrote:
I took pictures with 3 different cameras, this one has the most accurate color rendering.

Sad, that means I didn’t grow the real Black Heart from Borisovna, even though I planted 10 bushes from 3 different sources.

T@tk@ wrote:
Sad, that means I didn’t grow the real Black Heart from Borisovna…

Tanya! Don’t be sad, I have saved seeds for myself now and I will share some of them with you. The variety is very good, very beautiful.

The only thing is, it started cracking when ripening, even though I hadn’t watered my tomatoes for a long time.

Here is my Black with a Spout, it ripened as one of the first in mid-July. Growing it for the second year = thanks to Svetochka @Mama Antona for the seeds and to Natalya Borisovna for a wonderful variety. I don’t have photos sliced open, but I’ll try to take some, the tomatoes are ripening.

Sergey-EKB wrote:
The only thing is, it started cracking when ripening, even though I hadn’t watered my tomatoes for a long time.

Sergey, I don’t arrange breaks in watering. The soil must always be slightly moist, otherwise, all tomatoes start cracking. And I grow them outdoors in open ground, but with a plastic roof to protect from the rain.

Sergey-EKB wrote:
I have saved seeds for myself now and I will share some of them with you.

Thank you, Sergey!

I got lucky. Out of the single surviving seedlings – one bush was from Borisovna. I haven’t tasted it yet. Only picked the first couple of fruits. But it set fruit well.

More goodies have ripened 😋
Here is what it looks like sliced open. I’ve seeded (shared seeds with) all the neighbors around me, let them grow such beauty too.

I tasted this beauty. Seeds collected. Keeping it for a second year )

Black Heart from Borisovna is the absolute best variety among all dark hearts. Mandatory to repeat every year in an amount of no less than 3 bushes. They grow in the greenhouse in 2 stems: beautiful, prolific, tasty, dense, and they can store for a bit. The variety gets a 5+++.

Prolific, which I like… absolutely no acidity!!!! The fruits are beautiful hearts!!!!!!!

Here is my Black Heart with a Spout tomato. I planted only one root, and my husband is still scolding me for planting so few…

In August-September the fruits got larger, yield is good, taste is top-notch, grew in the greenhouse.

Why is it called BLACK heart?

The tomato is red… well, or dark-red, or brownish-red))

CWERT wrote:
brownish-red

Well, that’s exactly what a black tomato is, or a “darkie” in simple terms. And those tomatoes that look pitch-black on the outside are usually called blue. Or anthocyanin tomatoes. Inside, they are usually red. Or orange. I’ve probably confused you completely now.

Is this black currant? Yes. And why is it red? Because it’s green. 😉

CWERT wrote:
Why is it called BLACK heart?

It is rather purple with pink “streams”. Brownish-purple. This shade falls into the group of “black” tomatoes. Brad’s Black Heart isn’t black either, or even brown. In general, the line of “black tomatoes” covers a group from purple to pronounced brown like Black Yum-Yum. Linnaeus Terracotta Heart is also a “black” tomato.

The intensity of the color depends on growing conditions; with strong sun exposure (insolation), it is darker. Also, dark tomatoes are demanding on soil composition; there must be enough microelements in it, especially magnesium, it seems. For me, in the shade, it turned out the color of pinkish coffee with milk, and in the light, it had a practically brown color.

The absolute best of all dark tomatoes for me.

The spouts are just charming.

I just read an “honest review” of this variety in one of the diaries, calling it “Bland grass”. Only later it turned out that it was grown in the Leningrad Region [very far North], and on the shady side of the greenhouse. Over there, Brad’s Black Heart was also “bland grass”. What’s more, the tomato was picked when it was just pink.

I want to remind you once again: to enjoy the taste of this tomato, you MUST grow it in the sunniest spot possible, pick it from the bush when fully ripe (burgundy-brown), and let it sit off the vine for a day or two. Understand, the variety comes from a very sunny place; the insolation level in Karaganda in summer is comparable to Africa, reaching up to 10 points. Don’t try to grow it in the shade and eat it unripe.

Borisovna wrote:
…Only later it turned out that it was grown in the Leningrad Region, and on the shady side of the greenhouse.

Not in the Leningrad Region, but in the Pskov Region.))) I wrote that this year my dark tomatoes didn’t turn out well, but last year they were sweet. Meaning, it’s not the variety’s fault. Shokoladnyi (Chocolate) was excellent last year, but nonsense this year. The rest of the tomatoes were tasty.