📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Da Chilo
- 🌍 Origin: A massive heirloom variety from Italy. The name “Da Chilo” translates to “Weighing a kilo” (2.2 lbs), which perfectly describes its size potential!
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A highly vigorous, tall plant that thrives in a greenhouse environment when pruned to two main stems. Mid-season maturity.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Giant pink beefsteaks with a deep oblate shape and ribbed shoulders. They easily range from 14 oz to nearly 2 lbs (400-900 g). The flesh is incredibly dense with virtually no hollow cavities and very few seeds.
- 👅 Flavor: Renowned for being exceptionally sweet, juicy, and possessing a rich, classic old-fashioned tomato flavor.
- ⚠️ Grower Notes: Because the fruits get so massive, they can be prone to cracking/splitting at the blossom end.
I am growing this tomato for the first time. I really liked the variety. Indeterminate, reached 6.5 feet (2 m) in the greenhouse, the bush is quite vigorous, and I grew it in two main stems. Maturity-wise, it’s more of a mid-season. The fruits are absolutely massive (mine ranged from 14 oz to 2 lbs / 400 to 900 g), pink, deep oblate shape with ribs, and totally solid inside with no hollow cavities. Very sweet and juicy.
The only downside is that the fruits cracked at the bottom (blossom end) and there are very, very few seeds. I will definitely be growing this one again.
Edited August 5, 2016 by Drosera
Grew it in the greenhouse. Good yield. Classic old-fashioned tomato flavor. It didn’t crack too badly for me. It set fruit perfectly without skipping any trusses.
The Italian Giant: “Da Chilo” is an Italian phrase that literally translates to “Of a kilo” or “Weighing a kilo” (1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs). This is a traditional naming convention used in Italy for giant competition-sized beefsteaks. As Sofia notes in her review, the name is completely accurate – her fruits easily reached 900 grams, just shy of the 1-kilo mark! If you are looking to grow a brag-worthy, giant show tomato that actually tastes good, this is the one.
