Cœur de Zèbre (Heart of Zebre Apricot) Tomato Reviews

Cœur de Zèbre (“Heart of Zebre Apricot”)

Bred by Jean-Claude Bosher from France. A bicolor indeterminate. The bush is actually quite sturdy, with drooping regular leaves. It is very dense when sliced, with a small amount of seeds and a beautiful red-crimson “tie” (streak) in the center. The fruits vary in size from 100g up to 600g (3.5–21 oz), and the plant definitely needs staking. For me, it turned out to be a mid-late season variety. The taste is somewhat reminiscent of Orange Russian 117, although it definitely has its own distinct unique notes.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Drosera

A recent variety, also known as “Heart of Zebre Apricot”.

Created and developed by Jean-Claude Bosher, France. It is the result of a cross between Cœur de Bœuf and Red Zebra.

Do not confuse it with “Zebra Heart”, which is circulating in the USA and is the result of a spontaneous mutation (I described it in the catalog). For me, it was a mid-season variety. The bush is thin and tall. The fruits are beautiful elongated bicolor hearts; the color changed depending on how ripe they were. Fruit weight 150-500g (5-18 oz) with dense, buttery, sweet flesh. Productive, with very few seeds in the fruits.

A very beautiful and tasty variety! The height of the bush in my greenhouse was 1.7-1.8m (5.5-6 ft). Fruit weight averaged 250g (9 oz). It is an extraordinary sight when those ripe hearts are hanging on the vine!

A wonderful variety, I liked it very much! 👏👏
Productive, beautiful, and absolutely delicious! 😋 The flesh is incredibly tender and sweet, like an exotic fruit, a true delicacy! I grew two identical bushes in the greenhouse, in two stems, indeterminates, mid-season. They were loaded very well with fruits – perfect yellow-pink bicolor hearts. There is usually one massive fruit on the truss (up to 600g), and the rest are smaller. Very few seeds. Seeds were from Sofia. 🌺

It is similar to Orange Russian 117, but there are definitely some differences. This season, it completely outperformed OR117 in terms of yield.

A productive and delicious beauty of this season!
The plants in the greenhouse fruited all the way until autumn, gracefully handling being pruned to 3 stems )))
It grew heavy trusses of bright orange heart-shaped fruits, quite large, up to 300g (10.5 oz) and more, with juicy, sweet flesh inside. 😋
When sliced, the fruits are just incomparably beautiful, with bright crimson streaks (ties). The number of seeds is very limited.
In our area, it showed itself to be a mid-season variety – the first fruits started ripening on the plants in early July.

I also grew it this year. Seeds were from Kulik. I bought it from him under the name Zebra Heart (Coure de Zebra).
I wouldn’t say the variety buried me in tomatoes. But it is painfully beautiful and delicious.
It probably just needs to be acclimatized to our harsh Ural conditions over a few seasons.

I also grew Cœur de Zèbre abricot this season. Seeds were from Valdis Pulins. I saw this magnificent, gorgeous variety at an exhibition, really liked it, and wanted to grow such beauty myself. The bush height was 1.5 meters (5 ft). A plant with a thin main stem and thin, drooping wispy foliage. Regular leaf type. I grew it in 3 stems. The trusses averaged 4-5 fruits, weighing 150 to 400 grams (5-14 oz), heart-shaped with slightly ribbed shoulders. The color is a stunning yellow-orange-red, resembling an apricot. The yellow-orange flesh with red marbling is tender, meaty, and juicy. The taste is outstanding, sweet, with a strong aroma. Good yield. The variety completely won me over with its beauty and taste. A favorite!

Edited December 29, 2018 by Tiffany

I repeated this variety, and everything is top-notch again – both the yield and the honey-like taste!🍯

And it is just sooo beautifuuul.

Seeds from Svetikk. Very tasty, excellent yield, sweet.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Murka

Grew it this year too. Seeds from Svetikk. Loved it across all parameters. Productive, beautiful, one of the best tasting tomatoes – sweet and tender.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Irina Fedorova

I am so happy to have such a beauty in my collection. Beautiful, tasty, and a pretty decent yield!

Repeated it. Growing from my own saved seeds, the fruits got larger and the yield improved.

Girls, can you compare it in taste and yield to Orange Russian 117 and Dynyushka? Or maybe with Nature’s Riddle (Zagadka Prirody), even though that one isn’t heart-shaped?

On 10/14/2019 at 16:24, Olvia said:
Girls, can you compare it in taste and yield to Orange Russian 117…

Both are good.

Girls, I don’t understand… should I want Orange Russian instead, or are they completely different varieties?

On 1/15/2020 at 19:37, Lena Vanyushka said:
should I want Orange Russian instead, or are they completely different varieties?

In my conditions, they are different. This variety produces fruits ranging from 100g to 600g on the exact same truss, while OR117 is much more uniform (200-250g). The taste is slightly different, and the ripening times differ too. In my garden, OR117 turns out a bit more fibrous. Until you try both yourself, you won’t know which one performs better in your local microclimate.

On 1/15/2020 at 20:38, Alisa said:
Until you try both yourself, you won’t know which one performs better…

Thank you so much for the answer. I guess I’ll just add it to my wish list! ))))

Very tasty! And beautiful!
Lena @Slavulya shared the seeds with me. Thank you!

On 10/14/2019 at 16:24, Olvia said:
can you compare it in taste and yield to Orange Russian 117 and Dynyushka. Or maybe Nature’s Riddle…

For me, it turned out much tastier than Orange Russian 117. Heart of Zebre Apricot has a unique, very pleasant aroma and a tiny hint of acidity, which makes it far superior in taste compared to OR117 (which, to me, always tastes a bit bland). As for Nature’s Riddle, it was completely flavorless for me, tasted like plain grass. Thanks to Svetikk for the seeds. I haven’t grown Dynyushka.

Edited August 2, 2020 by T@tk@

On 8/2/2020 at 18:51, T@tk@ said:
For me, it turned out much tastier than Orange Russian 117…

Interesting, but what about its yield? Is it higher than its bicolor competitors?

On 8/2/2020 at 19:18, Sergey-EKB said:
Interesting, but what about its yield? Is it higher than its bicolor competitors?

The yield didn’t particularly blow me away, but this year, with such crazy weather roller-coasters, it’s not a fair metric. I can only say it was no worse than OR117, Pineapple King, or Canada. Nature’s Riddle, Ferokofay, and Grandma Viney’s Yellow and Pink yielded higher. The yield was also definitely impacted by the fact that I had to plant severely stressed/root-bound seedlings-I had to pot them up into larger containers twice before they could finally go outside.

One bush is growing outdoors, another in the greenhouse. The greenhouse bush grew tall, right against the wall, hit the ceiling in mid-July, and on July 29, I topped them all (cut off the growing tips). Like most varieties this year, it dropped blossoms in the extreme heat. The outdoor bush is much shorter, no more than 130 cm (4.2 ft), grew very slowly, and consequently set few fruits (I’ll go count them tomorrow if I don’t forget). Because of the taste, I absolutely want to repeat this variety from my own saved seeds-if I manage to save any! I couldn’t find a single seed in the first fruits.

Edited August 3, 2020 by T@tk@

On 8/3/2020 at 01:50, T@tk@ said:
Because of the taste, I absolutely want to repeat this variety from my own saved seeds – if I manage to save any! I couldn’t find a single seed in the first fruits.

Thank you. And don’t worry about the seeds; the heat wave caused that. The later tomatoes usually have seeds in them. There might be few, but it will be enough for you to save.

On 8/2/2020 at 19:18, Sergey-EKB said:
yield

Sergey, I’m so proud of myself, I wasn’t lazy… I went and counted them and even took pictures. Correction–it turns out I have THREE bushes growing in the greenhouse, all with identical yields, they set about 12-13 large fruits each. They skipped setting higher up during the heatwave, and then I chopped their heads off (topped them).

The outdoor bush looks like a pitiful sight (but to be fair, it waited for its turn to be planted much longer than the greenhouse ones). It’s a scrawny, wimpy plant, but surprisingly, it set almost the exact same number of fruits as the greenhouse ones, except they are 2-3 times smaller. I counted 13 on it too, and it was trying to set more higher up (there are about 8 cherry-sized ones), but I topped all my outdoor plants early.

Here are the greenhouse bushes:

And here is the outdoor one:

By the way, I tasted an underripe tomato, so there is hope it will be even tastier when fully ripe later.

Edited August 3, 2020 by T@tk@

On 8/3/2020 at 01:50, T@tk@ said:
The yield didn’t particularly blow me away…

On 8/3/2020 at 11:35, T@tk@ said:
I went and counted them and even took pictures. Correction-it turns out I have THREE bushes growing in the greenhouse, all with identical yields, they set about 12-13 large fruits each…

Wow, what a yield! You actually got a very good yield! Because of the heatwave, many of the varieties in my greenhouse only set 2-3 trusses total.

A very tasty and beautiful little tomato! I gave seedlings to friends (various different varieties), and they both told me that this was the most beautiful and tastiest tomato of them all!!!!

An interesting, beautiful variety. Loved the taste – sweet, and the cross-section looked buttery. Perfect for decorating a festive table. Yield was average; I definitely need to put it in a brighter spot next time. Fruits vary in weight from 100g (3.5 oz) and up. Orange Russian actually yielded less for me.

Edited November 9, 2021 by OlyaSashina

Poltava. Open ground (outdoors). I liked the variety. I think I’ll repeat it. The fruit is sweet, juicy, but not watery.