Quick Summary of Cherevichki (Little Shoes)
- 🌍 Origin: A Ukrainian heirloom popularized by breeder V. Syray. The name Cherevichki translates to “Little Shoes” or “Slippers,” perfectly describing the unique shape of the fruit.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very tall. Like many elongated paste varieties, it has “wispy” or weak-looking foliage (drooping leaves), which is perfectly normal. It grows endlessly and produces a massive amount of fruit.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red, elongated plum or icicle-shaped fruits. The defining feature is a distinctly curved tip or “spout” pointing to the side, resembling the toe of a slipper. Weights typically range from 40–70 g (1.4–2.5 oz), though some strains can reach up to 150 g (5.3 oz).
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Dense, firm, and meaty with very little juice. It is an absolute top-tier variety for canning, making sauces, or sun-drying. Fresh eating reviews are mixed, typical for processing tomatoes.
- ⏳ Maturity & Health: Early to mid-season. Because of its elongated shape, it can be slightly prone to Blossom End Rot (BER) on the first truss during early development, but usually outgrows it quickly as the season progresses.
Tamara Semenovna shared the seeds with me 🌺, it’s a variety from V. Syray (Ukraine).
Indeterminate, productive, grew in the greenhouse, I led it in 2 stems. The fruit is red, plum-icicle shaped, elongated with a slightly pulled-in top or a spout. Dense, meaty, uniform. Mine weighed 40-70 g / 1.4-2.5 oz (Syray’s description says up to 150 g / 5.3 oz).
An excellent variety for canning, the fruits are firm, similar to ‘Auria’, only about 1.5 times smaller. You can compare their sizes in the photo on the tray. The fresh taste is also very decent 😋
I had the Cherevichki variety back in the late 80s. The shape is pepper-like with a spout pulled to the side, like a little shoe, good taste, about 150 grams (5.3 oz) each. Due to moving and lacking a greenhouse, I haven’t planted this variety since. I need to ask around among my acquaintances, maybe I can recover it…
Quote from Lyuda Ka:
I had the Cherevichki variety back in the late 80s… I need to ask around among my acquaintances, maybe I can recover it…
Lyuda, look at these “little shoes” that grew from your seeds! A very beautiful and tasty tomato, in the photo for the calendar it is sitting on top of the little Christmas tree. I think it could have been larger too, but its spot was bad and it was crowded in the hoop house. But I will definitely plant it again.
Hello. I planted this variety in 2016 too. Seeds were from Lena Danko. Grew it in the greenhouse; the bush is wispy/weak, but grows endlessly. At first, it was capricious, dropped some blossoms on the first truss, and even managed to catch a little Blossom End Rot (BER). But then it really got going! 😲 At first, I tried to lead it in three stems, then gave up, and it grew however it wanted. My fruits ended up having the spout 🤷♀️. Very productive, just loaded with fruit. Here is a photo in mid-August when it started to ripen, this is the lower part of the bush.
A productive, heavily-loaded variety. The taste is not that great, of course, but you can forgive that for the yield.
Photos of the ripe ones:
I am growing this beloved variety again this year. And again, it makes me very happy. With its early ripening, yield, and taste. It was one of the first to bloom and set fruit without skipping any trusses, despite difficult weather conditions: there was no rain, the water supply was turned off, complete lack of watering and feeding. The variety is just a handsome guy! And the taste is excellent.
