Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Old German is a classic 19th-century indeterminate heirloom bicolor beefsteak preserved by Mennonite growers in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It yields massive, oblate yellow-gold fruits marbled with ruby red that grow increasingly crimson as they dead-ripen. Northern cool-climate growers find it sweeter than Pineapple (Ananas), but caution that it is a decidedly late-season … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Noire Ronde (Noir) is a late-season traditional French dark tomato marketed in Europe’s Prince de Bretagne heirloom medley crates. Grown outdoors in Western Europe (USDA Zone 7), it reached 3.3 ft (1 m) and produced juicy, purple-to-black round fruits with a rich, sweet-tart flavor, a slight floral aroma, and tougher skin than … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Negrillo de Almoguera is a historic Spanish heirloom from Castilla-La Mancha that was saved from extinction by university researchers. An indeterminate vine reaching over 6.5 feet (2 m), it yields hefty 10.5 oz (300 g) dusky brownish-pink beefsteaks with scalloped olive-green shoulders and rich garnet flesh. Gardeners prize it for two exceptional … Read more
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🍅 Quick take: Navarro is an indeterminate, mid-to-late season Spanish heirloom originating from the northern province of Navarre (Navarra). It throws massive 14-23.5 oz (400-670 g) red fruits with astonishing botanical polymorphism: deeply fluted beefsteaks, blunt hearts, and lobed shapes resembling stalagmites all appearing simultaneously on the same vine. Meaty, low-seeded, and reliably sweet, it … Read more
Quick take: Nonna Antonina (“Grandmother Antonina”) is a traditional family heirloom originating from Italy. It grows as an indeterminate, late-season vine bearing very large, bright red beefsteaks packed with intense, old-world savory flavor. Highly adaptable across both cool northern climates and warm southern zones, growers praise its manageable, well-behaved vine habit and long harvest window. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mennonite is an indeterminate, mid-season leaning late heirloom beefsteak tracing back to historic North American Mennonite communities. It yields large, smooth, peach-orange fruits packed with dense, solid meat and exceptionally few seeds. In northern greenhouse trials, it produced pleasant though mild, low-sweetness fruit with yields running on the lighter side. Full summary … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mont de Maratz is an indeterminate, mid-season leaning late European heirloom oxheart. It bears meaty, juicy red heart-shaped slicers that frequently develop wide, flattened forms or dramatic fused double hearts. In cool northern greenhouses, it proves to be a solid performer with a pleasantly sweet, rich tomato flavor. Full summary ↓ Growers’ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mendigorria is an indeterminate Spanish heirloom slicer (originating from the town of Mendigorría in Navarre, Spain) that produces large, meaty, firm red beefsteaks with a distinctive matte, almost frosted skin sheen. Grown in USDA Zone 4, it showed excellent fruit quality, zero cracking, and a classic, well-balanced tomato flavor. Full summary ↓ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mexico is a classic indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom beefsteak producing massive, meaty pink slicers up to 1.5 lbs (700 g). Growers across USDA Zones 3-5 rave about its rich, sweet, old-fashioned flavor, ability to set fruit in summer heat, and impressive size, noting only that the heavy trusses need extra support so … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Maciza Montserrat (Montserrat Macizo) is a heavy-hitting indeterminate Spanish heirloom from Catalonia. Unlike traditional hollow-pocketed Montserrat stuffing tomatoes, the “Maciza” (solid) strain is bred to be completely dense, meaty, and nearly seedless with warm salmon-pink flesh. While standard vines pump out ribbed 10.5-21 oz (300-600 g) slicers, plants with lighter fruit sets … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lucchese is a classic indeterminate Italian heirloom originating from Lucca in Tuscany. It produces massive, bright red, deeply fluted beefsteaks easily reaching 14 oz (400 g) and larger. The flesh is dense, meaty, and slightly dry with an old-school, slightly tart, balanced flavor. While growers in short northern zones classify it as … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Homer’s German Oxheart is an indeterminate, late-season red oxheart. It produces large, slightly ribbed hearts with very few seeds and dense, buttery flesh. Growers note that while it isn’t an extremely heavy producer (averaging around 8 fruits per plant), the sheer size—most weighing around 14 oz (400 g)—and excellent, aromatic flavor make … Read more