Quick Summary of Sakharnaya Nastasya (Sugar Nastasya)
- 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian variety introduced by the “Gavrish” seed company. The name translates to “Sugar Nastasya” (Nastasya is a traditional, folksy diminutive of the name Anastasia).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very vigorous. While the seed packet claims it grows up to 1.5m (5 ft), real growers report it easily reaching nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft), even outdoors. It performs exceptionally well when pruned to 2 to 4 stems. It has a very long fruiting season, producing right into the late fall (October).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful, smooth, dark-pink to raspberry-colored hearts. The average weight is 150–200g (5–7 oz), with some specimens reaching up to 400g (14 oz). The skin is firm (preventing cracking), and the flesh is very dense with extremely few seeds.
- 👅 Flavor: True to its name, the flesh has a sugary, watermelon-like texture. It offers a concentrated, old-fashioned tomato flavor that is perfectly balanced between sweet and tart.
- 💡 Pro Tips: It is incredibly reliable—often the very first indeterminate variety to start ripening in the garden, and it sets fruit perfectly without dropping blossoms (no blossom drop). Caution: It can be susceptible to Blossom End Rot (BER) on the early trusses, so keep watering consistent and monitor calcium levels.
Seeds are from the “Gavrish” company. Here is what is written on the seed packet:
“This wonderful beefsteak tomato seems like it comes straight from childhood. The raspberry-colored, heart-shaped fruits are so large they don’t fit in your hand (up to 400g / 14 oz), and they also contain very few seeds. The flesh has a concentrated tomato flavor, honey-sweet, and the aroma is simply amazing. This variety is strictly for fresh eating (salads). The plant is medium-tall (up to 150cm / 5 ft), suitable for growing in a plastic greenhouse or outdoors in open ground if staked. The harvest can be picked 120-130 days after germination.”
I am growing this variety outdoors in open ground. The bush is almost 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall, pruned to 4 stems. There are a lot of fruits, but they are not huge. The shape and color match the description perfectly. It was one of the very first to ripen; currently, I’ve already harvested the first 3 trusses. I really liked the taste! Just as the breeder promised—a concentrated tomato flavor, sweet and sour, very well balanced. The skin of the fruit is quite firm, and there are very few seeds inside.
The only downside is that it turned out to be susceptible to Blossom End Rot (BER); a few tomatoes on the very first truss were affected.
And here is a funny “eared” miracle 😄 (a fasciated megabloom fruit):
Sakharnaya Nastasya (Sugar Nastasya). My best discovery of the year among pink hearts! Indeterminate, heavy yielder, grew in the greenhouse pruned to 2 stems. It was one of the very first indeterminates to start ripening. The fruits are perfectly smooth, beautiful dark-pink hearts. They are firm, but the flesh is juicy, sugary, very delicious, sweet, and has a small amount of seeds. The weight of the majority of the fruits is modest, around 150-200g (5-7 oz), with a few individual specimens reaching up to 400g (14 oz).
Sakharnaya Nastasya. An excellent variety. It was the first of the indeterminates to start fruiting, it didn’t drop a single blossom due to stress (perfect fruit set), and it fruited for a very long time. In the first photo, the bush is shown in October. The taste is, indeed, exactly like sugar. A huge thank you to Svetlana for the seeds!
