Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Striped Oxheart is a heritage indeterminate bicolor heirloom hailing from Virginia, USA. Producing dense, heart-shaped fruits running 7 oz (200 g) and up, it features golden-yellow skin overlaid with subtle red streaks that open to reveal a brilliant red starburst core. Prized by gardeners with a sweet tooth, its tender, low-acid meat … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Sheboygan is a historic early-1900s Wisconsin heirloom indeterminate vine producing heavy clusters of chubby, pink icicle-shaped plum tomatoes in the 3.5-4 oz (100-120 g) range. While historically grown as a paste and canning cultivar, northern gardeners praise it as a sweet, juicy fresh slicer with outstanding cold tolerance, setting fruit from floor … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Sheryl’s Portuguese Red Heart is an uncommon indeterminate oxheart characterized by slender, wispy vines and dense, beaked, dark-red fruits averaging 7 oz (200 g) and up. In cold northern trials (USDA Zones 3b-4), it stood out for rare earliness, fully ripening outdoors in open beds where most heart-shaped heirlooms struggle to finish. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Sart Roloise is an eye-popping indeterminate beefsteak bred in Belgium by Roland Boulanger (White Wonder × Baby Blue). The ribbed, 9-12 oz (250-350 g) pale yellow slicers feature deep indigo shoulders. While growers consistently praise its heavy yields and jaw-dropping appearance, the flavor polarizes the patch: warm-climate growers report sweet, tender fruit, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Russian 117 is a legendary indeterminate heirloom famous for cranking out massive, dense, fused double oxhearts tipping the scales at 17 oz (484 g) or more. Northern growers consistently report heavy, dependable yields in high tunnels and open beds. A major talking point across community seed lines is foliage segregation: while historically … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Reinhard’s Purple Heart is an indeterminate oxheart bred by German seed saver Reinhard Kraft, loaded with medium-sized, pointed purple hearts on heavy-bearing vines. Growers in short-season regions (USDA Zones 3-4) report monster production in both high tunnels and open dirt. However, flavor reviews are sharply divided: while some praise its rich, sweet-tart … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Rose de Pessac is an indeterminate, mid-early French heirloom tracing back to the Pessac market in Bordeaux, Gironde. Typically grown as an open, sparse-foliaged vine, it produces dense, dark pink to purplish heart-shaped beefsteaks averaging 12 to 21 oz (350-600 g), with records topping 3 lbs (1.35 kg). Russian and European growers … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Leprechaun’s Rainbow (Raduga Leprekona) is an indeterminate, mid-season bicolor oxheart producing glowing orange-and-pink heart-shaped fruits in the 3.5 to 5.5 oz (100-150 g) range. Grown in the cold short season of northern Russia (USDA Zone 3/4), it proved to be a tidy, manageable double-stemmed vine with strong productivity. Its hallmark is a … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Reinhard’s Green Heart is a standout indeterminate, mid-season green-when-ripe oxheart bred by German tomato pioneer Reinhard Kraft. Known for heavy 9-14 oz (250-400 g) fruits on slender, wispy vines, it develops an emerald gel interior and an amber-pink blush at the blossom end when fully ripe. Reviewers overwhelmingly praise its intense, candy-sweet, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Rainbow Jazz Heart is a breathtaking indeterminate, mid-season striped oxheart bred by the late master breeder Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds. The vigorous vines yield dense, pointed heart-shaped slicers adorned with a pearlescent sheen and fiery ribbons of raspberry-pink and golden-yellow. Inside, the marbled flesh offers an intensely sweet-tart tropical punch, combined … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Red Wolf is an exceedingly rare indeterminate, mid-season pink oxheart originally introduced to the heirloom community by Abundant Acres around 2005. The slender vines feature characteristic wispy, weeping foliage and produce glowing dark-pink heart-shaped slicers running between 6 to 8 oz (170-230 g) and reaching up to 1 lb (454 g). Renowned … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Reinhard Kraft’s White Heart (Weisses Herz von Reinhard Kraft) is a mid-season, indeterminate white oxheart bred by German tomato specialist Reinhard Kraft from a cross between Cherokee Green and an unknown pink heart. The slender, wispy vines grow 5.25 to 6 ft (1.6-1.8 m) and pump out heavy, pale ivory hearts weighing … Read more