Quick Summary of Yuwel (Juwel / Jewel)
- 🌍 Origin & History: A legendary heirloom with a fascinating past. According to Soviet agricultural records, it was one of the most widely grown commercial varieties in the USSR during the 1930s. The name translates to “Jewel” from German (Juwel).
- 🕵️♂️ The Strain Mystery: There is a popular myth that this is the American 1889 variety “Chalk’s Early Jewel”. However, as eagle-eyed growers in this thread point out, Chalk’s is a small round tomato, while the Russian Yuwel is a massive beefsteak. It is likely an old German heirloom that became deeply entrenched in Soviet agriculture.
- 🎨 Color Debate: As with many ancient heirlooms, two stabilized lines currently circulate among Russian collectors: a classic Red version and a deep Raspberry-Pink version. Both produce identical plant habits and giant fruit sizes.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-late season, and extremely vigorous. It requires heavy-duty staking to support the weight of the massive fruits.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Giant, meaty beefsteaks. Average weight is 400-600g (14-21 oz), with bottom fruits frequently reaching 800g to 1 kg (1.7 – 2.2 lbs). The skin is thick, making it fairly crack-resistant for such a large tomato.
- 💪 Genetic Stability: This variety is incredibly stable. A grower in this thread conducted a grow-out experiment using seeds sourced from completely different regions of Russia, and the resulting plants and yields were 100% identical!
A mid-late variety, with a very powerful bush, requires serious support. Tall-growing with large fruits. Forms 3-4 fruits per truss. Thick-skinned, very meaty.
In 2012 it was in the greenhouse, but I also have experience growing it outdoors in the open ground. It performs no worse 👍.
And what color and taste does it become when it ripens?
Red, just a banal red color 😉
My mother-in-law used to grow Yuwel in Armavir. Then the variety was lost. I have been looking for at least some mention of it for several years now. And here I stumbled upon your discussion. Could you please tell me where to get Yuwel seeds? Maybe someone can share 10-15 seeds? Please!!! 😳
One of the very best varieties of this season.
When the Yuwel variety was passed on to me, I was told that this variety has been in their family since 1937. (The color is pink, and it has always been pink).
From history:
Sown areas under tomatoes grew annually in the USSR: in 1930 they occupied about 80 thousand hectares, and in 1937 – more than 400 thousand, or 19% of all land under vegetables. Moreover, almost 40% of the land used by collective farmers was occupied by tomatoes, and the number of varieties exceeded 500. The most popular among them at the time were foreign varieties: BONNY BEST, YUWEL (JUWEL), JOHN BAER, HUMBERT, GREATER BALTIMORE.
Translation from German:
Juwel (noun, m)
– precious stone; jewel; gem;
– (colloquial/joking) pearl; treasure.
Grew in Open Ground. I really liked the variety 😋👍! The fruits are meaty, pink, absolutely gorgeous!
It’s a pity that my photo with this tomato didn’t turn out very well! I was simply delighted with this variety! Perhaps the most majestic and beautiful tomato of this season! It’s not for nothing that I love all the old heirloom varieties!
Mine is from Angelina, deep pink. Grew outdoors in the open ground, only the first truss had time to ripen fully, I picked the second one when it was breaking color, and the subsequent ones green, they counter-ripened indoors. The fruits are large, up to 800 grams (1.7 lbs), even on the upper trusses they reached 300-400 grams (10.5-14 oz). It is mid-late. But I think it would be absolutely perfect for a greenhouse!!
Here is what collector Andrey from Minsk sent me: “And what is called Yuwel in Russia, is actually an old American variety Jewel from Pennsylvania, which dates back to 1889. It is also called Chalk’s Early Jewel after the breeder.”
Very tasty, red fruits. On the bush they are of different shapes, from regular oblate to clumsy-unintelligible shapes. Tasty.
So is it red or pink?
It is red.
I had this one, indet, I really liked the variety, the tomatoes are meaty, juicy, tasty.
Natasha, yours aren’t very large, I see. All of mine were huge, there wasn’t a single one under 300g (10.5 oz). True, I wouldn’t say there were a massive amount of them.
Quote by ALIANNA:
So is it red or pink?
Mine is pink.
Quote by elena0508:
Natasha, yours aren’t very large, I see…
Yes, Len, this is how they turned out, but now I remember that they grew in such a spot for me where several varieties next to Yuwel practically didn’t yield at all, you could say. Thank goodness I managed to at least see and taste them! An apple tree later bloomed and spread its canopy right over the greenhouse there, and when I first planted the tomatoes – it wasn’t there 😄
My Yuwel is pink, late season.
Quote by Aleksander:
…what is called Yuwel in Russia, is actually an old American variety Jewel… Chalk’s Early Jewel”.
Chalk’s Early Jewel is round, red, and small, only 4-6 oz (113-170 gr).
Natalya (ivanovochka) probably has exactly that one.
But the giant Yuwel – is clearly a completely different variety.
This is a wonderful variety, planting it for the 2nd year. Originally purchased from V. Pulinsh. Visually it’s a regular beefsteak, of a normal pink, dark pink color. Indeterminate, mid to mid-late ripening period, fruits can be up to 1 kg (2.2 lbs), but the bulk of them are quite uniform in mass, not less than 400-600g (14-21 oz). Good fruit set, long fruiting period, rich taste. The fruits are identical and large from the first to the last. Permanent residency on my list for a long time!
This year I conducted an experiment. I asked forum members for seeds of this variety. Three people responded. I planted 3 bushes, including my own saved seed from last year, in one greenhouse in a single row. The goal of the experiment was to identify the most productive bush from seeds sourced from different regions. Imagine my surprise when I saw absolutely no differences in the bushes from the three different sources. That’s what an ancient heirloom variety means!
All bushes were trained to 2 stems, the taste was identical for all of them. At first I wanted to weigh the entire harvest from each bush, but even visually it was noticeable that the yield for all of them was exactly the same, like twins! Friendship won (it was a perfect tie)! It’s a wonderful variety, trouble-free, very productive and tasty!
