📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Babushkino Bychie Serdtse (Grandma’s Oxheart)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian family heirloom that is over 80 years old. Introduced to seed collectors by Angelina Khilenko. The name translates to “Grandma’s Oxheart”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall. Can easily reach over 2 m (6.5 ft) in a greenhouse. Its performance is highly climate-dependent: it thrives in warmer southern zones but can struggle in short, cool northern summers.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Classic pinkish-red oxhearts. When grown in optimal conditions and pruned, they can reach massive sizes near 1 kg (2.2 lbs). However, most growers report an average weight of 300–500 g (10–18 oz).
- 👅 Flavor: Southern growers rate it exceptionally high, describing it as a perfectly sweet and meaty classic oxheart. Growers in colder climates (like Zone 3) report that it lacks flavor and can be bland due to insufficient heat.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-early to mid-season.
Bush is over 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall, highly productive, large-fruited. The variety is over 80 years old. The taste is impossible to describe 😋 😋 😋 All the best traits of oxhearts 😋 😋 😋
Angelina, could you please tell me about the ripening time? Is it closer to late-season?
I grew Angelina’s Grandma’s Oxheart in the Moscow region. I didn’t get the same massive weights as Angelina did 😲, mine were 400-500g (14-18 oz). Harvested July 28 and August 12. In terms of ripening time—it’s mid-season.
Olya, please share your impressions of the taste. Is it just as good up here in the Moscow region?
On 12/27/2015, Ira said:
Olya, please share your impressions of the taste. Is it just as good up here in the Moscow region?
Ira, honestly, I don’t remember the taste, my notes just say 4+, but I’m a picky eater, and the summer was… well. The only oxhearts that got a solid 5 from me were Kangaroo Heart and Linnaeus Heart.
Olya, thanks! I’m a picky eater too! 😄
Variety Analysis (out of 5):
- Bush structure (sturdiness, suckers, etc): 4
- First ripe fruit picked: August 4
- Fruit beauty: 5
- Taste/sweetness: 5
- Average number of fruits in a truss: 3
- Yield: 4
- Average fruit weight: 362g (12.7 oz)
- Bush height in open ground: 1.4m (4.5 ft)
Overall rating for the variety: 4+
I grew Angelina’s Grandma’s Oxheart for the second year. Height about 2 m (6.5 ft), pruned to 3 stems (it just happened that way). Had 11 fruits in total. The smallest weighed 643-650 g (22-23 oz). The first fruits weighed 985-959 g (2.1 lbs). The tomatoes hung on the vine until October. Tasty.
In 2019, I grew Angelina Khilenko’s Grandma’s Oxheart. In our climate, it gets a solid 3 out of 5—it turned out to be mid-season, gave an average yield, fruit weight was no more than 400 g (14 oz), and the taste was bland. Ultimately, this is a southern variety; it doesn’t suit us here. In all aspects, it lost to our local family heirloom Udalov’s Oxheart, which has been an early-season, super productive, large-fruited, and tasty variety for me two years in a row.
Mid-early, productive variety. Weight 300-500 grams (10-18 oz). Meaty, sweet.
