📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Californian Tulip
- 🌍 Origin: The exact origin and breeder are unknown, but it circulates widely in Eastern European seed-saving networks under the name “Kaliforniyskiy Tyulpan”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Mid-season indeterminate. Stays relatively compact, reaching around 5 feet (1.5 m) in open ground or 5.2 feet (1.6 m) in a greenhouse. Unbelievably reliable at setting fruit, regardless of heat or cold.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunning orange-pink bicolor fruits shaped like a closed tulip bud with deep ribs. They weigh around 3.5-7 oz (100-200 g). The inside is semi-hollow (perfect for stuffing), but the walls are very thick, meaty, and hold some gel.
- 👅 Flavor: The walls themselves are sweet and flavorful, not dry or cardboard-like. While it’s not a fresh-eating slicer, it is an absolutely top-tier choice for stuffing, dehydrating (sun-dried tomatoes), or canning whole.
Californian Tulip. I have no clue where this variety actually came from. The plant height out in the dirt is up to 5 feet (1.5 m). Mid-season. The fruit is a bicolor, orange-pink, shaped like a flower bud with highly pronounced longitudinal ribs, weighing 5.3-7 oz (150-200 g). It is very beautiful. It does have some hollow voids inside, but not massive ones. The walls are thick and meaty. I haven’t really met any tomatoes of this specific type that are incredibly tasty. It’s a variety for a specific purpose.
That being said, the walls themselves are sweet, and there is some gel and juice inside. These kinds of tomatoes are perfect for canning whole in jars, dehydrating, or stuffing. The beauty and the fantastic yield of this variety are simply mesmerizing.
Californian Tulip.
A pretty unusual variety. First of all, it sets fruit on every single blossom that opens. Heat, cold, it doesn’t care. It’s an amazing trait. Interesting shape, color, and interior.
It is hollow inside, but it’s not cottony or mealy like it might look in a cross-section photo. It actually does have flavor. Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to use it in fresh salads when you have plenty of actual slicer varieties around. But for dehydrating, freezing, or garnishing dishes, it’s a fantastic option.
The plant isn’t super tall, about 5.2 feet (1.6 m) in the greenhouse, medium footprint. The fruits aren’t huge, averaging around 3.5 oz (100 g), bicolors.
It’s a variety worth getting to know, and maybe even surprising yourself and your friends with how diverse the tomato world can be.
I planted it last season too. I’d rate the yield a 4 out of 5. It didn’t bury me in tomatoes, but it wasn’t just 2 fruits per plant either. Interesting shape, a true stuffing tomato, but it isn’t completely empty, there are some guts inside. I saved seeds from it, definitely going to repeat it.
Californian Tulip.
Truly a very interesting, unusual, and beautiful variety to add to my collection of various tulip-shaped tomatoes. The walls aren’t dry at all, they are nice and sweet.
