Quick Summary of Rio Grande
- 🌍 Origin: A world-famous commercial paste variety originally developed for hot climates, but widely adapted and heavily grown by Russian and Eastern European gardeners for winter canning.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Grows compactly to about 70-90 cm (2.3 – 3 ft) tall. Excellent for open ground and field growing. Highly resistant to a wide complex of tomato diseases.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Classic red, blocky plum/Roma shape. Very uniform in size, typically weighing 100-115 g (3.5 – 4 oz). The skin is notably thick, and the flesh is very dense and meaty with very little juice.
- 🥫 Best Uses: This is a quintessential workhorse processing tomato. It shines in canning, making thick purees, sauces, and preserving whole in its own juice. It also has a very long shelf life and ships perfectly.
- ⚠️ The Great Forum Debate: As you will read below, this tomato sparked a hilarious debate among growers. While canning enthusiasts praise its dense texture and uniformity, fresh-eating lovers find it too hard and tough. It’s a perfect example of choosing the right tomato for the right job!
Perfect for canning!
High marketability and transportability of fruits. For open ground. Mid-season variety. The period from sprouting to the beginning of ripening is 120-125 days. The plant is 70-90 cm (2.3 – 3 ft) tall. The fruits are plum-round shaped, dense, meaty, and red. Fruit weight is 110-115 g (3.8 – 4 oz). Intended for fresh consumption, processing, and canning. The variety is resistant to a complex of diseases.
I liked the variety. Very productive and tasty. Looks amazing in jars. Overall, it matches the manufacturer’s description, but my fruits turned out a little smaller than stated.
I liked Rio Grande. First of all, for the taste — they were so sweet, as if there was syrup inside. I liked that they are meaty and practically without liquid, the color is deep red. They can be stored for a long time. Didn’t get sick with anything, unlike the others.
The only tiiiiny minus — the skin is a bit tough.
One of the best varieties for canning. They are very good preserved in their own juice!
A small, hard piece of crap.
I have to disagree here. About 100 grams (3.5 oz) each, all perfectly uniform size. Yes, they are dense, but that is extremely good for puree. And mine were very bright red.
Elena73 said:
I have to disagree here. About 100 grams, all perfectly uniform size…
I honestly gave them a chance for two years… never again.
Andrei, I haven’t seen a single positive tomato review from you on this forum. Are you a tomato-hater?
TatianaSh said:
Andrei, I haven’t seen a single positive tomato review from you on this forum. Are you a tomato-hater?
Not true… I just write honestly as it is… so that people don’t repeat my mistakes.
And I disagree too. They aren’t that small. Yes, they are dense, but it’s a pickling and canning variety! What else is it supposed to be? It has a normal tomato taste. I plant it every year.
Maybe there is no reason to argue. The variety is good. The tomato is dense, sweet, doesn’t crack, of a uniform caliber, but it apparently requires a lot of heat. Therefore, it doesn’t suit everyone.
If such a simple variety like Rio Grande requires a lot of heat, what can we even say about exotics and large slicing varieties? 😆
But yes, everyone chooses for themselves.
P.S. I wouldn’t call this tomato sweet, though.
I plant about 30 bushes every year. With each passing year, they seem to get bigger and tastier.
