📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Pineapple Zebra
- 🌍 Origin: A stunning stabilized cross, likely originating from a mix of the classic Pineapple and Green Zebra tomatoes. Widely known among US and European growers, it is highly prized by collectors for its adaptability and stunning appearance in colder climates.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and vigorous. Performs exceptionally well when grown indoors in a greenhouse and pruned to 1 or 2 leaders (stems).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large oblate (flattened globe) beefsteaks, weighing up to 400g (14 oz). The exterior is a beautiful mix of green and red stripes. The interior is a work of art—marbled red and green flesh.
- 👅 Flavor: Very rich, sweet, and complex. The flesh has a dense, buttery, almost jammy texture. It boasts a great balance of sweetness with just the right amount of tang.
- ⚠️ Growing Tip: Since they are “Green-When-Ripe” style bicolors, it’s hard to tell when to pick them. Look for a red blush on the blossom end (the bottom) and a slight softening. Do not overwater when fruits are ripening, or they are highly prone to splitting/cracking at the shoulders!
Pineapple Zebra. A very tasty variety, the absolute discovery of the season! Indeterminate, grew in the greenhouse pruned to 2 stems, and was a heavy yielder. The fruits are oblate, reaching up to 400g (14 oz) for me, striped green and red. It is incredibly beautiful on the inside; the flesh has a jammy, buttery texture with a very rich flavor and great sweetness.
Pro Tip: If you have trouble telling when they are ripe, look at the bottom of the fruit—if there’s a red blush on the blossom end and they yield slightly to the touch, it’s time to pick! Otherwise, the shoulders will crack (mine split before I figured out I needed to squeeze them and check the bottoms 😅).
Svetikk said:
Pineapple zebra. A very tasty variety, the absolute discovery of the season!
Sveta, for some reason, bicolors usually don’t turn out very tasty for me (they end up a bit bland), but striped varieties always come out delicious. Is the taste of this one closer to bicolors, or is there hope it will behave more like a striped variety?
My bicolors usually turn out tasty too. You just have to try growing it in your own conditions and see!
Svetikk said:
…very rich flavor and great sweetness.
So it has a bit of tang/acidity to it as well?
T@tka said:
So it has a bit of tang/acidity to it as well?
Yes, it does, there’s a great balance!
Svetikk said:
Yes, it does, there’s a great balance!
Thanks, I’ll add it to my grow list then. Sveta, do you happen to have seeds for the Maple Syrup (Klenoviy Sirop) tomato?
T@tka said:
Sveta, do you happen to have seeds for the Maple Syrup tomato?
Nope.
Svetikk said:
Pineapple zebra.
Gorgeous! Are they fully ripe in the photo? If you let them hang on the vines longer or sit on the counter, will they get redder inside and out, like other bicolors do? How do you know when it’s getting overripe so you can catch it in time? It’s important for me that they can hang on the plants for a long time and also hold up well indoors without turning to mush :)))
Alisa said:
Are they fully ripe in the photo? If you let them hang on the vines longer or sit on the counter, will they get redder inside and out…?
They hung on the vines for a long time, looking green and striped, right up until their shoulders cracked. I gave them a squeeze—they had softened slightly—looked underneath, saw the blossom end had blushed red, and picked them all. I sliced them the very next day because I was afraid they’d rot around the splits; they were all fully ripe. Only one fruit was left hanging. So I don’t know if they get redder in storage, but they probably do—I Googled this variety, and online photos show more red in the flesh.
And if you want them to hang on the vine longer, back off on the watering. I watered mine heavily, and they split wide open 😂
Pineapple Zebra
Grew it indoors in the greenhouse. Very productive and beautiful. For me, it turned out to be a mid-late season variety. The taste is good, but nothing mind-blowing.
The cross-section, of course, is a work of art!
