Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Cresta di Fuoco #2 (Fire Crest #2) is a distinct, deep brownish-red indeterminate Italian heirloom known for its eccentric, crested, and ribbed fruit forms. While technically a later-maturing variety, it can drop its ripe crop in a concentrated wave, outpacing other late-season varieties. With dense, meaty flesh and moderate sweetness, it stands … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ocean (Okean) is a vigorous, indeterminate Italian cocktail/cherry variety producing glossy red, globe-shaped fruits up to 0.8 oz (23 g). Known for its distinct, apple-crisp bite, sweet flavor, crack resistance, and exceptionally sparse canopy. Northern greenhouse growers report remarkable resistance to greenhouse leaf mold (Cladosporium), making it a reliable, heavy-setting producer that … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Russian 117 is an iconic indeterminate, mid-to-late season bicolor oxheart bred by California grower Jeff Dawson (a cross of Russian 117 and Georgia Streak). The vines carry classic delicate, weeping oxheart foliage and produce breathtaking 9-19 oz (250-540 g) gold and crimson hearts. Forum growers note that its legendary, sweet, peach-like … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oaxacan Jewel (Joya de Oaxaca) is a gorgeous indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom beefsteak from Oaxaca, Mexico. It pumps out massive, striking yellow-orange slicers with ruby-red marbling, routinely tipping the scales between 20 oz and 2.2 lbs (600 g to 1 kg). Forum growers love its super juicy, sweet, low-acid flavor, but warn … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Strawberry is a vigorous, indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom known for producing massive, meaty, heart-shaped or oblate orange fruits with very few seeds. Originating in the US as a stray from a Pineapple tomato packet, it thrives on heavy potassium/phosphorus feeding and sunshine, though it can be a sparse yielder in cooler … Read more
🍅 Quick take: OPO (often called Dwarf OPO) is a fascinating American variety that looks like a stocky Dwarf seedling but grows and produces like a classic indeterminate. Producing beautiful pink, round-to-heart-shaped fruits weighing 5-14 oz (150-400 g), it is universally praised for its incredibly sweet, bright, old-fashioned flavor. It performs exceptionally well both outdoors … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Heart from Angelini is a tall, indeterminate, mid-season oxheart variety that produces vibrant, sun-colored orange fruits averaging around 7 oz. Known for its sweet, juicy flavor and solid yields, it performs beautifully in greenhouses, especially for growers dealing with short northern summers. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lago Maggiore is a tall, indeterminate, mid-season variety that produces heavy yields of ribbed, pear-shaped and plum-shaped tomatoes ranging from 3.5 oz to over 1 lb. It’s highly crack-resistant in wet conditions. Flavor is universally praised, though growers report varying results regarding its shelf life and firmness. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
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🍅 Quick take: Ohridski Dolgaves is an indeterminate Serbian heirloom variety popularized by breeder Živojin Antić. It produces very firm, meaty red plums with a pointed tip, typically weighing 5-9 oz (150-250 g). While it looks like a standard canning paste, growers are consistently blown away by its intense, cherry-like sweetness. It also boasts an … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A highly productive, wispy-leafed indeterminate vine that produces stunning, small-to-medium red oxhearts that literally look like giant strawberries. Known for an exceptionally sweet, classic flavor and very few seeds, it thrives in both greenhouses and outdoors but can be prone to yellow shoulders without enough potassium. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and … Read more
🍅 Quick take: German Giant is a massive, mid-season indeterminate heirloom beefsteak. Known for producing gigantic dark-pink fruits that frequently approach the 2 lb (900 g) mark, it is highly prized for its old-fashioned, aromatic flavor. However, growers frequently debate its foliage type, as both potato-leaf and regular-leaf versions heavily circulate in seed exchanges. Full … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Granny Cantrell’s German Red is a legendary indeterminate heirloom beefsteak renowned for its robust, perfectly balanced, old-fashioned tomato flavor. Originally hailing from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, this heavy-yielding vine produces stunning, meaty red slicers that typically weigh between 10 oz and 1.5 lbs, though they can occasionally reach massive proportions. It … Read more