Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 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
🍅 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: Missouri is a mid-late season determinate paste tomato highly praised for its firm, thick-walled fruits that don’t get rubbery or “rock-hard” like some commercial canning types. The bushes grow up to 3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) tall and produce heavy yields of mildly sweet, low-acid red tomatoes perfect for processing, juicing, or eating … Read more
🍅 Quick take: The name Malinovka causes massive confusion in the tomato world because there are two completely different, unrelated varieties sharing the name. Strain 1 (Commercial “Russian Garden” brand): A short, 24-28 inch (60-70 cm) determinate bush that produces small 2.5 oz (70 g) crack-resistant, dark pink plum/paste tomatoes. Perfect for canning. Strain 2 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Marusya is an early, highly productive determinate paste tomato from Russia. Producing incredibly dense, meaty, and dry red plum/egg-shaped fruits in the 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g) range, it is an absolute favorite for whole-peeled canning and making thick sauces. The bushes stay compact at around 20-32 inches (50-80 cm), require minimal pruning, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Marmeladnaya Lampochka (Marmalade Bulb) is an indeterminate, mid-season dark tomato originating from the Siberian gardening club “Tyapka” in the early 1980s. The fruits are pear- or bulb-shaped, turning a matte burgundy color while keeping a characteristic greenish, puckered blossom end. Growers rave about its heavy yields and its namesake “marmalade” or jelly-like … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Medok (which translates to “Little Honey”) is an early-season, determinate red paste tomato. The compact bush maxes out around 2 feet (60 cm) tall, making it a great candidate for underplanting beneath taller vines. It produces sweet, meaty, finger-like “icicle” tomatoes that hold up well for transport and canning. While yields can … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Luch (which translates to “Ray” or “Beam”) is an early-season, determinate paste tomato. It is highly praised for being extremely low-maintenance—thriving outdoors with zero pruning required. The compact bush produces very thick-walled, meaty, elongated tomatoes that are noticeably sweet. Because it ripens so early and handles cold well, it is a favorite … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lemon 2 (Limon 2) is a moderately vigorous indeterminate vine that produces large, orange-yellow plum tomatoes. Often distributed as a bonus seed packet by vendor Alexey Kulik, this variety has won growers over as an absolute workhorse. It delivers a heavy, concentrated harvest of juicy, buttery-fleshed paste tomatoes that are perfect for … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Limbo is a mid-season determinate bush variety known for producing heavy yields of elongated, somewhat triangular red paste tomatoes weighing 2.8-4.2 oz (80-120 g). While the seedlings can be notoriously spindly and leggy indoors, the mature plants stay under 3 feet (90 cm) and are highly praised as a bulletproof, long-storing canning … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Love and Doves F1 (Lyubov da Golubi F1) is a vigorous indeterminate hybrid from Premium Seeds that produces pink plum tomatoes. While it boasts fantastic disease resistance and heavy fruit set outdoors, growers in this thread are largely disappointed by its highly inconsistent genetics and bland, tough, “supermarket-style” flavor. Full summary ↓ … Read more