Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: King Penguin (Korolevskiy Pingvin) is a meaty, dark pink, elongated indeterminate tomato. While there is some debate over different seed lines (including a tree-type variant), the strain grown by these forum members is a well-behaved vine reaching about 5 feet (1.5 m). Growers rave about its sweet, low-acid flavor and dense flesh, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): German Pink Strawberry 🌍 Origin: A classic German heirloom that became highly popular among Eastern European collectors under the translated name “Zemlyanika Nemetskaya Rozovaya”. It is often confused or cross-listed with the famous heart-shaped “German Red Strawberry,” but this pink variant is distinct for its rounder shape and Potato Leaf genetics. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): De Barao Rozovyi (Pink De Barao) 🌍 Origin: A classic Russian commercial heirloom, part of the famous, cold-tolerant De Barao tomato family. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A massive, highly vigorous vine that easily reaches the roof of a greenhouse. Requires aggressive pruning. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Pink, plum-shaped paste tomatoes, usually featuring … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Jade Pink Round 🌍 Origin: A very rare heirloom variety. It is extremely hard to find information or grower reviews about it online. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A great choice for growers looking for a reliable, tall plant that produces uniformly sized salad tomatoes. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Perfectly round, pink tomatoes … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Garetski Rozovyi (Greek Pink) 🌍 Origin: A fantastic commercial/heirloom variety from Bulgaria. The name translates directly from Bulgarian as “Greek Pink” (sometimes spelled Gretski Rozovyi). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Despite being a determinate, it is quite vigorous and tall for a bush-type, reaching about 4 ft (1.2 m) in open … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolshoy Rozovyi Vernisazh (Large Pink Vernisage) 🌍 Origin: Part of the famous “Vernisage” series created by Ukrainian breeder Ruslan Dukhov. The name translates to “Large Pink Vernisage”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-early maturity. It is a sprawling, sturdy, and highly vigorous plant. It is very forgiving—you can prune it to 2 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Barmaley 🌍 Origin: Variety from the Siberian Garden (Sib-Sad) seed company. It is named after “Barmaley”, a famous pirate villain from classic Russian children’s fairy tales. 🌿 Plant Habit: A reliable mid-season variety that performs well both in greenhouses and outdoors in open ground. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful pinkish-raspberry slicers. Major … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolgarskaya Roza (Bulgarian Rose) 🌍 Origin: An Eastern European variety. “Bolgarskaya Roza” translates to “Bulgarian Rose”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and vigorous. It features “sparse” or open foliage, which is great for airflow and disease prevention. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, beautiful red-pink tomatoes averaging around 400g (14 oz). Interestingly, while … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Brikadel Rozovaya (Pink Brikadel) 🌍 Origin: Vintage Russian heirloom tomato. The name translates directly to “Pink Brikadel.” 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and highly vigorous. Expect the vines to easily reach 2 meters (6.5 ft) or more when staked in a greenhouse or open garden. Mid-season maturity. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bashkirskiy Krasavets (Bashkir Handsome) 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety from the Bashkortostan region. Historically documented in Tatiana’s TOMATObase. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall and vigorous plant. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Growers report some variation in fruit shape depending on the seed source. Some describe them as bright raspberry-pink, oblate beefsteaks … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Mamie Brown’s Pink 🌍 Origin: A family heirloom from West Virginia, USA. It was introduced to the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) in 1995 by Alice Brown-Mattes. The seed traces back to her grandmother, Mamie Brown, who grew it in the 1930s. The Russian lineage of this seed often traces through American … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Astana 🌍 Origin: An Eastern European / Central Asian “folk” heirloom (meaning it was passed down through gardeners and named by the community, rather than being a registered commercial seed). Named after Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. 🌿 Plant Habit: Modestly indeterminate. It doesn’t grow into a wild jungle, stopping around … Read more