📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Izumrudnye (Emeralds)
- 🌍 Origin: Grown from seeds originally sourced from China. The Russian working name translates to “Emeralds”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very vigorous plant that throws a lot of suckers, but uniquely, it sets fruit very well on those unpruned suckers. It has distinctive, heavily serrated foliage.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small, green, plum-shaped tomatoes with a distinct pointy blossom end (beak) and dark green stripes. They weigh up to 3.5 oz (100 g).
- 👅 Flavor & Use: Very sweet with practically zero acid, but not bland. The flesh is perfectly firm, making it an excellent and highly unusual choice for canning whole.
The seeds came from China. It’s a very interesting indeterminate variety that got up to about 6.5 feet (2 m) tall. I grew it in the greenhouse.
It throws out a ton of suckers, but it actually sets fruit on them really well. Even in the seedling stage, it stood out with its beautiful, highly serrated foliage. The tomatoes are plum-shaped with a little pointy tip, green with dark green stripes.
When it ripens, the pointy end turns a bit yellow. The flavor is mostly sweet with practically zero acid, but it’s definitely not bland. They weigh up to 3.5 oz (100 g). I really loved this variety.
Nadezhda, are the fruits firm or soft?
They aren’t rock hard, but they aren’t soft either. I actually canned them and they didn’t turn to mush. I’ll report back once I open a jar and taste them.
Nadezhda mentions a crucial tip for harvesting Green-When-Ripe (GWR) varieties: “When it ripens, the pointy end turns a bit yellow.” This is exactly how you tell a ripe green tomato from an unripe green tomato! Most GWR varieties will develop an amber, yellow, or bronze blush on the blossom end (the bottom) when they are ready to pick. Combined with a gentle “squeeze test” to feel for a slight give in the flesh, you’ll never pick a hard, unripe green tomato again. Also, a green paste tomato that stays firm enough for canning is incredibly rare and valuable for making unique, bright green salsas and sauces!
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