📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Brandywine Black
- 🌍 Origin: A famous American heirloom originally introduced by William Woys Weaver (said to be from a 1920s Pennsylvania Quaker family collection).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous vine. True to the Brandywine family, it features Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. Some growers report it is highly susceptible to Leaf Mold (Cladosporium) in humid greenhouse conditions.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Medium to large oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks. The color is a beautiful dark mahogany/purple with dusky green shoulders.
- 👅 Flavor: Outstanding. It possesses that classic, complex, rich, and earthy flavor that dark heirlooms are famous for. Very sweet and meaty.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-season. Tends to perform much better in greenhouses than outdoors in cold climates.
🍅 Grown this variety? Click here to add your own photos and review below!
It was a total success this summer! It’s an indeterminate vine; I grew it in the greenhouse. I pruned it to two main stems, and it faithfully pumped out large, delicious, and beautiful tomatoes.
From my 2015 season harvest. Here’s a look at the cross-section:
In the greenhouse, it was the very first to bloom and ripen for me… but it was also the very first to die from Leaf Mold (Cladosporium). Outdoors in open ground, it really struggled—fruit set was poor, and it ripened incredibly slowly.
A tall variety (it reached 2 meters / 6.5 ft in the greenhouse). Mid-season maturity. The fruits are medium-sized, purple/dark in color, and oblate (flat-round).
The flavor is outstanding—sweet and meaty. It has true Potato Leaf (PL) foliage.
