📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Coeur de Surpriz (Heart of Surpriz)
- 🌍 Origin: A fascinating French artisanal variety with a dramatic backstory. Originally developed by Madame Jacqueline Morel and named after her dog, “Surpriz”. The heart-shaped version (“Coeur de Surpriz”) is believed to be a strain/mutation discovered by Sébastien Berthier.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, regular leaf. A tall and very robust, sturdy plant.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Uniquely colored dark-green fruits covered in brownish-red and golden stripes. Shape variation: The shape is highly inconsistent even on the same plant—ranging from narrow icicle-hearts to blunt oxhearts, and even oblate (flat-round) fruits. The flesh is dense, green with red marbling.
- 👅 Flavor: Excellent aroma and taste.
- ⏳ Yield & Maturity: Mid-season. While beautiful, some growers report inconsistent or low yields, with the plant skipping several trusses during mid-summer heat.
- ⚠️ Varietal Stability: Because the original ‘Surpriz’ escaped prematurely before being fully stabilized, there is a lot of crossed or off-type seed floating around under this name (including yellow/red bicolors). The true ‘Coeur de Surpriz’ must be green/red striped.
The descriptions online for this variety vary quite a bit.
Here is the description and history from Tatiana’s TOMATObase: “Indet., regular leaf plants. Medium oblate beefsteaks with variable shapes, brick-red with very prominent green stripes. Beautiful bicolor green and pink flesh. Excellent aroma.”
History of the variety:
“Developed by Madame Jacqueline Morel of Saint-Uze, France, who named it after her beloved dog, Surpriz. Seeds of the final stabilized version were released by Madame Morel in 2014 and shared with Tatiana’s TOMATObase Seeds through Louis Lacaze, France. According to Louis Lacaze, the ‘Surpriz’ tomato known in North America since 2011 was not a stabilized version when it ‘escaped’ from the creator, and it did not meet Madame Jacqueline Morel’s expectations. Basically, Surpriz was ‘introduced’ to North America prematurely. Madame Jacqueline Morel continued her breeding efforts and released her selection in 2013 as ‘Coeur de Surpriz’.”
However, on Odnoklassniki (a Russian social network), someone pointed out another version of the story to me:
“This variety originated from the ‘Surpriz’ variety, from which it differs in fruit shape and color. This specific strain was found by Sébastien Berthier. A special feature of this variety is the inconsistency of the fruit shape—they can look like narrow icicle-hearts, regular oxhearts, and even oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks. And all this variety of shapes can be found on the exact same bush at the same time. The fruit color is a beautiful dark green with brownish-red and golden stripes. The flesh is meaty, green with red marbling, with excellent taste and aroma. The plants are tall and very strong, mid-season, good yield, and in a greenhouse, it fruits right up until the frost.”
You’ve heard my personal impression of this variety before. These aren’t tomatoes; they look like Christmas tree ornaments, they are that beautiful! But! (And by the way, this is also noted in Tatiana’s TOMATObase) the yield was quite low for me. It set the first two trusses, then skipped three entire trusses, and then produced a few more on the very top trusses. I genuinely don’t know if I will plant it again in the spring…
Here are my photos of Coeur de Surpriz. The stripes and the shape are just incredible.
Adding my photo of the true green/red striped version. Very pretty on the vine.
Mid-late season bicolor in the shape of a beautiful heart, 200g (7 oz). Grew to 1.4m (4.5 ft) in open ground. The brightest, most vibrant cross-section of 2017!!! Unreal beautiful colors inside! Tasty, sweet, and juicy! An absolute favorite! But I am confused about the varietal purity…
