Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Mermaid is an elite indeterminate, mid-season bicolor beefsteak celebrated for breaking the curse of low-yielding bicolors. The tall vines produce massive, meaty fruit tipping the scales up to 2.2 lbs (1 kg). While the exterior ripens to a soft, glowing pink with faint golden undertones, slicing it open reveals a breathtaking, marbled yellow-and-crimson … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kazakh Schalavije is a mid-late, highly productive indeterminate bicolor beefsteak known for its disease resistance and ability to thrive in both cool and hot climates. The 12–18 oz (350–500 g) fruits are sweet, meaty, and uniquely long-lasting on the counter for a bicolor. Full summary ↓ 📑 Table of Contents Tiffany on … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Hartsack Yellow is an indeterminate, mid-season bicolor beefsteak originating from the US. It is highly praised for being one of the earliest bicolors to ripen, producing gorgeous gold, orange, and pink fruits that rarely crack. Growers love its juicy texture and complex, balanced sweet flavor. An excellent, heavy-yielding slicer, though fruits picked … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Olympic Flame (Olimpiyskiy Ogon) is an indeterminate, late-season bicolor beefsteak. If there is one thing growers universally agree on, it’s the flavor: it is exceptionally sweet with a dense, jelly-like texture. However, it is equally notorious for being a stubbornly low yielder. Some growers struggle to get more than a few fruits … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Berry (Oranzhevaya Yagoda) is an indeterminate bicolor heirloom with a surprisingly wispy, scrawny vine habit. It produces oblate, orange fruits with a beautiful pink blush on the blossom end. Flavor reviews are stellar—noted as being exceptionally sweet. However, fruit size and yield seem highly dependent on the grower’s environment and pruning … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oaxacan Jewel (Joya de Oaxaca) is a gorgeous indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom beefsteak from Oaxaca, Mexico. It pumps out massive, striking yellow-orange slicers with ruby-red marbling, routinely tipping the scales between 20 oz and 2.2 lbs (600 g to 1 kg). Forum growers love its super juicy, sweet, low-acid flavor, but warn … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Martha Logan is a mid-early, potato leaf (PL) indeterminate beefsteak. Though often sold as a yellow tomato, it typically ripens into a stunning yellow-and-pink bicolor. Growers praise its vigorous, disease-resistant vines and consistently large, sweet fruits ranging from 7 oz to 1.3 lbs (200-600 g). Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos … Read more
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🍅 Quick take: Medovukha (Mead) is a mid-season, indeterminate red-and-orange bicolor beefsteak bred by Valdis Pulniņš. It produces massive, meaty, flat-round fruits that frequently reach over 2 lbs (1 kg), known for their incredibly sweet and juicy flavor profile. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos I Irina Volga (Irina Rubleva) 🍅 Member (902 posts) … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korshun Zheltyi (Yellow Kite) is an indeterminate yellow/pink bicolor beefsteak. Unusually for an indet, it grows as a very stocky, stout vine. While one grower found it incredibly resilient in a crappy shaded spot with fluctuating temps, another struggled with blossom drop. When it does produce, it offers a well-balanced, excellent flavor … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Beauty Queen is a stunning striped bicolor indeterminate beefsteak bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. In this thread, Russian growers fiercely debate the differences between Beauty Queen and its sibling variety, Beauty King. While some experienced identical plants, others note that Beauty Queen produces slightly smaller, more orange fruits with … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Beauty King 🌍 Origin: A legendary modern heirloom bred by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms in California. It is a cross between Big Rainbow and Green Zebra. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Known for being a bit wimpy and spindly in the seedling stage, but it vigorously stretches to 6-6.5 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Blushing Bride 🌍 Origin: A well-known American heirloom variety. It is widely traded among European and Ru collectors under the direct translation “Zastenchivaya Nevesta” (Shy Bride). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but generally considered very compact and well-behaved for a climbing vine. It is not an aggressive grower and is easy … Read more