Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 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: 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: Hugo is an indeterminate, mid-late season paste mater bred by the Czech outfit Moravoseed. Pumping out 7 oz (200 g) blocky, red, pepper-shaped fruits, it boasts a solid disease package and crazy shelf life (up to 4-6 months). Growers praise its resilience through heat and drought, as well as its meaty, tender … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Fiaschetto is a determinate, mid-season plum tomato (these seeds originally sourced from Solana Seeds). The bushes are very compact, reaching only 2 to 2.5 feet tall, and pump out heavy yields of perfect red paste tomatoes. Growers praise it for its excellent disease resistance and bold, old-fashioned tomato flavor. Full summary ↓ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Fuego Rosa is an indeterminate, pepper-shaped paste variety bred by Fred Hempel. It produces beautiful, glossy pink fruits with gold striping. Growers report good yields, but flavor reviews are wildly mixed: greenhouse growers found it sweet and juicy, while outdoor growers reported thick skins and dry, rubbery flesh. Full summary ↓ Growers’ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Flaschentomaten (which simply translates to “bottle tomatoes” in German) is an indeterminate, mid-to-late season paste/cherry variety that originated from a German grower (Valera Zonn) who grew out seeds from the commercial hybrid Corianne F1. Because it’s an unstable dehybridization, growers report two main shapes: one with a distinct pointy beak, and one … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Dino Eggs is an indeterminate, heavy-yielding variety that produces gorgeous orange, plum-shaped tomatoes with faint yellow stripes. Weighing in around 2.5-5.3 oz (70-150 g), they are firm enough for canning but sweet and juicy enough for fresh eating. Growers love the rich, sweet flavor and note that the vine sets fruit non-stop. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Dwarf Purple Heart is a mid-season, tree-type dwarf variety released in 2015 by the Dwarf Tomato Project (a cross between Brad’s Black Heart and Dwarf Wild Fred). It produces beautiful, dark purple-brown heart-shaped fruits that are generally sweet and meaty. The growers here praise its excellent yields, crack resistance, and ability to … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Dwarf Saucy Mary is a mid-season, green-when-ripe dwarf variety from the Dwarf Tomato Project, bred by Craig LeHoullier (from the Kiwi family). It produces small, striped green plum tomatoes on compact rugose plants. Growers highlight its versatility for both fresh eating and canning, as well as its impressive resistance to leaf mold … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Dwarf Desperado is a mid-season determinate variety from the Dwarf Tomato Project. It produces beautiful pinkish-crimson plum or spear-shaped fruits weighing around 2.5 to 5.3 oz (70 to 150 g). The growers absolutely love it for its incredible yields, sweet flavor, firm texture, and excellent shelf life both on and off the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevaya Sosulka (Orange Icicle) is an incredibly productive, indeterminate orange paste tomato. Growers praise it for its firm texture, sweet flavor, and perfect size for canning. Interestingly, a few growers have reported the variety occasionally throwing off a determinate (bush) mutation, though the classic vine is known to be a massive, late-season … 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