Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevoe Leto (Orange Summer) is a mid-season, indeterminate orange variety bred by the Siberian seed company Semena Altaya. It produces firm, bright orange-yellow fruits that range from 6 to 14 oz (170-400 g). Growers appreciate its sweet flavor, disease resistance, and exceptionally long shelf life, as it can be stored fresh for … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevaya Sosulka (Orange Icicle) is an incredibly productive, indeterminate orange paste tomato. Growers praise it for its firm texture, sweet flavor, and perfect size for canning. Interestingly, a few growers have reported the variety occasionally throwing off a determinate (bush) mutation, though the classic vine is known to be a massive, late-season … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oaxacan Jewel (Oaksakanskaya Dragotsennost) is an indeterminate bicolor heirloom originating from Mexico, circulating here in a distinct potato leaf (PL) mutation alongside the standard regular leaf strain. Known for its golden-yellow skin marbled with raspberry streaks and marble-patterned orange interior, it offers a sweet, fruity flavor. Gardeners praise it as one of … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Bredero (Oranzh Bredero) is an indeterminate heirloom vine producing bright orange, ribbed pear-to-barrel-shaped fruits up to 6 inches (15 cm) long. Praised for its dense, low-moisture, sugary flesh, this variety holds its structure exceptionally well in hot water bath canning and traditional crock pickling. Experienced forum members note that it is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Olesya is an indeterminate Siberian heirloom bred by Sibirskiy Sad, renowned for producing meaty, golden-orange elongated plum tomatoes packed with exceptional sweetness. Plants display classic feathery, weeping foliage that can look scrawny despite being healthy. While yield is notoriously light on single-stem setups, multi-leader pruning and leaving fruit to fully vine-ripen unlocks … 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: 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: Ochre Symphony (Okhrovaya Simfoniya) is a mid-season, indeterminate variety bred by Sofia Saakova. It produces stunning 3.5-7 oz (100-200 g) plum-heart tomatoes that ripen to an earthy ochre color covered in green stripes, sometimes showing a faint antho blush. Growers rave about its incredibly sweet, buttery, nearly seedless flesh and strong yields, … 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: Orange Heart, affectionately nicknamed Fox Nose (Liskin Nos) by this forum community, is a legendary Russian indeterminate oxheart. It produces massive, butter-fleshed orange-yellow fruits that often sport a very distinct, sharp pointed tip (the “fox nose”). Known for its incredibly sweet, fruity flavor and lack of seeds, it is a massive favorite … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Nezhnost (which translates to “Tenderness”) is a mid-early, indeterminate variety that produces beautiful, glowing yellow elongated tomatoes with a pointed tip. The fruits average 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g). Growers report that the vines are incredibly prolific, often exceeding the 7-12 fruits per truss promised on the seed packet. While the flavor is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Nepasynkuyushchiysya Yantarnyi (Non-Suckering Amber) is marketed as a low-maintenance, early determinate for outdoor growing. However, growers report highly unstable genetics—plants can range from a 16-inch (40 cm) compact tree-type to a 32-inch (80 cm) sprawling bush, and ripening times vary. Despite the genetic inconsistency, the 1.5-3.5 oz (40-100 g) amber-yellow fruits are … Read more