Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Lucky Tiger is an indeterminate, mid-season elongated cherry/plum tomato originally bred by Fred Hempel (Artisan Seeds). It produces stunning 1-1.4 oz (30-40 g) green fruits with pink and red striping. Growers universally praise its massive yields, crack resistance, and complex, sweet, tropical flavor with a satisfying crunch. It’s an aggressive grower that … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kaleidoscopic Jewel is a strikingly beautiful, indeterminate, mid-season anthocyanin variety bred by Brad Gates (Wild Boar Farms). Growers praise its heavy yields, slim plant profile, and sweet, meaty pink-raspberry flesh. However, some note that the strain seems unstable, throwing fruits of wildly varying shapes and sizes on the same plant, contrary to … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kenosha Paste is a highly productive, mid-season indeterminate vine with wispy foliage. It produces meaty, sweet red plum tomatoes weighing around 4.5-5.5 oz. While it is an absolute workhorse for canning and processing, its surprisingly juicy, sweet flavor profile makes it just as fantastic for fresh eating. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kozula 179 (Zebra Zolta / Volta) is a striking indeterminate mid-season beefsteak from Polish breeder Anna Jankowski. It produces large, ribbed yellow-orange fruits with bold green stripes and green seed gel. While yield and aesthetics are universally praised, growers report huge variations in juiciness and flavor—ranging from dry and dense (ideal for … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Jumbo Jim Orange is a robust, indeterminate mid-season variety originating from the US that pumps out large, ribbed orange beefsteaks averaging around 1 lb. Growers love its high yield, perfectly balanced sweet flavor, and surprisingly good shelf life for an heirloom. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos T Tiffany (Julia) ⭐ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: IPK LYC 859 El Salvador is an indeterminate, mid-season, multi-purpose red plum tomato with a distinctive pointed tip. While the flavor is described as mild or slightly bland (making it better suited for processing or canning rather than fresh eating), its main standout feature is its massive yield. Growers report that this … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ilka is a rare, indeterminate, mid-season yellow oxheart with classic wispy foliage. It produces large, barrel-shaped hearts weighing 8.8-10.5 oz (250-300 g) and often much more. Growers praise it for its dense, meaty, almost seedless flesh, sweet old-fashioned flavor, and reliable fruit set in both heat and cold. Full summary ↓ Growers’ … 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: Helsing Junction Blues is an indeterminate, mid-early anthocyanin cherry tomato bred by Tom Wagner. The vines are sprawling, highly vigorous, and crank out massive clusters of firm, perfectly round blue-to-red fruits. Growers love its disease resistance and heavy yields, noting that while the skin can be a bit thick, the flavor is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Himmelstürmer (German for “Sky Stormer”) is an insanely vigorous, towering indeterminate vine rumored to be a cross between San Marzano and De Barao. Capable of reaching 10 to 20 feet (3-6 m), it produces huge clusters of firm, 1.5-2 oz (50 g) red plum tomatoes that keep very well post-harvest. Growers note … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Hay’s is an indeterminate, early-season oxheart believed to originate from Bulgaria. It produces gorgeous raspberry-pink hearts with an elongated tip, weighing anywhere from 7 oz to over a pound. Growers praise it for shrugging off temperature swings, powering through extreme heat, and delivering a phenomenal sweet flavor. A solid producer for both … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Goose Creek is a legendary indeterminate red heirloom (originally introduced by Jimmy Williams) that produces massive oblate beefsteaks. Growers consider it an absolute masterpiece, praising its classic, sweet-leaning flavor that finishes with a lingering, pleasant aftertaste. Despite producing incredibly huge fruits (sometimes pushing nearly 2 lbs / 800 g), it manages to … Read more