📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dieticheskiy Chempion (Dietary Champion)
- 🌍 Origin: A Ukrainian variety developed by the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture in Kherson.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, tall, mid-season variety. Thrives in both greenhouses and open ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Oblate (flattened) beefsteaks weighing 8.8-12.3 oz (250-350 g). They ripen to a stunning dark purple/black-raspberry color.
- 👅 Flavor: Known for being exceptionally juicy, sweet, and highly flavorful.
- 💪 Standout Features: Growers praise its excellent disease resistance, beautiful appearance, and heavy yields.
Mid-season, tall, indeterminate variety. Unripe fruits are dark green, and when ripe they turn a gorgeous black-raspberry color. They are oblate (flattened), weighing 8.8-12.3 oz (250-350 g), juicy, sweet, and very tasty. Suitable for growing in both open ground and greenhouses.
The seeds are from the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture (Kherson, Ukraine). I bought them in 2015 and planted them that same year.
Harvested the first fruits on July 26th. It is a very high-yielding variety. It grew outdoors in open ground, and I really loved it for the beauty of the fruits, the heavy yield, its disease resistance, and the flavor.
I planted one bush as a trial this year. Seeds are from Kulik*. Here is what the first truss looks like. This is outdoors in open ground.
👨🌾 Editor’s Cultural Glossary & Origins:
1. Why “Dietary” Champion? In Eastern Europe, dark (black, purple, and brown) tomatoes are frequently marketed as “Dietary” or “Medicinal”. This is because they contain significantly higher levels of anthocyanins and lycopene (antioxidants) compared to standard red tomatoes, making them highly sought after by health-conscious gardeners!
