Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Oslinye Ushi (Donkey Ears) is a mid-season, indeterminate pink/raspberry elongated plum tomato. Known for its classic oxheart-style wispy, drooping foliage, the vine produces large, meaty, and sweet fruits weighing up to 14 oz (400 g). While most growers praise it as a highly productive workhorse with excellent flavor, it requires consistent watering … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orlinyi Klyuv (Eagle’s Beak) is a famous commercial Russian heirloom from Siberian Garden (SibSad). It is an indeterminate, early-to-mid season pink heart/beak-shaped tomato. Like many classic oxhearts, it has a very spindly, wispy (“weeping”) foliage habit that looks frail but pumps out massive yields of large fruits up to 1.3 lbs (600 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Eagle’s Heart (Orlinoe Serdtse) is a popular Siberian pink oxheart bred by Sibirskiy Sad. It produces hefty, dense, blunt heart-shaped slicers weighing anywhere from 6.3 to 17 oz (180-480 g) with minimal gel and high sweetness. The vine has typical sparse, wispy oxheart foliage and thrives both in protected greenhouse setups and … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Bredero (Oranzh Bredero) is an indeterminate heirloom vine producing bright orange, ribbed pear-to-barrel-shaped fruits up to 6 inches (15 cm) long. Praised for its dense, low-moisture, sugary flesh, this variety holds its structure exceptionally well in hot water bath canning and traditional crock pickling. Experienced forum members note that it is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Cresta di Fuoco #2 (Fire Crest #2) is a distinct, deep brownish-red indeterminate Italian heirloom known for its eccentric, crested, and ribbed fruit forms. While technically a later-maturing variety, it can drop its ripe crop in a concentrated wave, outpacing other late-season varieties. With dense, meaty flesh and moderate sweetness, it stands … 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: Fiery Turban (Ognennyy Tyurban) is an indeterminate, mid-season anthocyanin variety bred by Sofia Saakova. It produces stunning truffle-shaped (pleated pear) tomatoes that ripen to yellow-orange with red stripes and heavy antho splashing. Weighing 3.5-10.5 oz (100-300 g) on average—with some hitting over 1 lb (500 g)—these beauties boast a rich, sweet flavor … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lago Maggiore is a tall, indeterminate, mid-season variety that produces heavy yields of ribbed, pear-shaped and plum-shaped tomatoes ranging from 3.5 oz to over 1 lb. It’s highly crack-resistant in wet conditions. Flavor is universally praised, though growers report varying results regarding its shelf life and firmness. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Nezhnost (which translates to “Tenderness”) is a mid-early, indeterminate variety that produces beautiful, glowing yellow elongated tomatoes with a pointed tip. The fruits average 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g). Growers report that the vines are incredibly prolific, often exceeding the 7-12 fruits per truss promised on the seed packet. While the flavor is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A wispy, frail-looking indeterminate vine that defies expectations by producing a literal “waterfall” of red, elongated paste tomatoes. It is remarkably resistant to blossom end rot (BER) and sets heavy crops in both intense heat and cold. An elite canning and long-term storage variety, though growers warn that ripe fruits easily drop … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A phenomenal compact dwarf variety that churns out massive, sweet pink beefsteaks weighing up to 21 oz. It’s incredibly low-maintenance—perfect for containers or “lazy” outdoor growing—though it will likely need strong staking to keep it from collapsing under the weight of its own fruit. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A tall, indeterminate vine that produces heavily in the greenhouse. The large, heavy tomatoes have a unique shape—part heart, part barrel—with dense, sugary flesh near the stem. Excellent all-rounder for fresh eating, paste, and canning. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos O Olya ⭐ Veteran Member (1,829 posts) I bought these … Read more