📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Goldman’s Italian-American
- 🌍 Origin: Originally discovered at a roadside stand in Italy and popularized in the US by heirloom tomato expert and author Amy Goldman.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and generally a mid-to-late season producer. Very productive vine.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, pear-shaped or bell-shaped tomatoes with very deep ribbing (fluting). The color is typically a rich red.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: The flesh is dense, meaty, and slightly granular, with very little gel. While some enjoy it fresh, it truly shines as an exceptional cooking and sauce tomato.
I couldn’t find a dedicated thread for this variety, so I wanted to start one to share my thoughts 🙂 I got the seeds from V. Redko with the following description: Tall (indeterminate), mid-late season variety. Fruits are pear-shaped, slightly ribbed, raspberry-pink color, weighing 5.3 to 7 oz (150-200 g). Dense, meaty, with a slightly granular flesh, very delicious. High yield and excellent fruit quality.
Well, mine turned out a bit different 🤷♀️ It was indeterminate, and the fruits were a red/raspberry color and pear-shaped, but they were heavily ribbed. The weight was also larger than stated in the description.
As for the taste, they weren’t the most successful this year, but I’m guessing that is my fault and not the fault of the variety. I probably failed to provide the ideal growing conditions. It is definitely worth growing again, I just absolutely love these truffle/pear-shaped tomatoes 🙂
Mine also turned out slightly different from the description 😀 I didn’t notice any “raspberry” pink tint in the fruits at all – they were just straight red. The rest of the description fit perfectly though. It was a heavy yielder, sweet, and very meaty 👍
Notice how both growers were slightly confused by the original Russian seed packet describing this variety as “raspberry” (which typically translates to a dark pink in Russian tomato terminology). In the United States, Goldman’s Italian-American is universally recognized as a blood-red tomato! It seems the Russian vendor (V. Redko) had a slightly inaccurate description. Oksana correctly notes that the true fruits are pure red. Also, Ekaterina’s note about the texture being “granular” is a hallmark trait of elite paste tomatoes – that dry, dense meatiness is exactly what makes this variety cook down into a phenomenal pasta sauce without taking hours to reduce!
