Quick Summary of Chempion Vesa (Weight Champion)
- 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian variety introduced by the seed company Aelita. The name translates to “Weight Champion”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching over 2 meters (6.5 feet). The bush is very strong, vigorous, and low-maintenance. It can be successfully grown with multiple stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright red, oblate, and heavily ribbed (pleated) tomatoes, resembling a flower. Despite the grand name, fruits typically weigh 100-200 grams (3.5-7 oz). To achieve the massive 2 kg (4.4 lbs) fruits claimed on the seed packet, severe pruning and fruit culling are required.
- 👅 Flavor & Culinary Use: Has a distinct, classic sweet-and-sour tomato flavor and good aroma. However, its practical use is debated: the heavy ribbing means a very high ratio of tough skin to meat. It’s too thin-walled for sun-drying, might burst during canning, and produces too much waste for juicing. Best grown as a stunning “decorative” slicer.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-early season (around 115 days). Yields are excellent, producing about 5 kg (11 lbs) per plant with 3-7 tomatoes per truss. Resistant to cracking.
Variety name: CHEMPION VESA (Weight Champion)
Producer: Aelita
Taste: A distinct classic tomato flavor, sweet-sour, aromatic fruit. BUT, because it is so heavily ribbed, it is not very pleasant to eat due to the large amount of skin, even though it is juicy.
Plant type and height: Indeterminate, over 2 meters (6.5+ ft).
Fruit weight, color, and shape: 100-200 g (3.5-7 oz), red, deeply ribbed/pleated shape, oblate, with an indented blossom end.
Pros: Low-maintenance, strong bush, can be grown in multiple stems.
Cons: I really don’t understand its culinary purpose.
Ripening time: Mid-early (115 days).
Leaf type: Regular.
Truss type: Semi-complex.
Chambers: Multi-chambered.
Seed count: Medium.
Application: This is a big question. Eaten raw, the skin gets in the way of enjoying the taste; it is too thin-walled for sun-drying; for pickling/canning, it will most likely burst; for juice, there is too much waste. Only one thing left – for beauty.
Yield per bush: About 5 kg (11 lbs) per bush, consistently sets 3-7 tomatoes per truss.
Cracking resistance: Does not crack.
Photos of the bush, close-up of the tomato, fruit weight, and sliced fruit:
100-200g — Weight Champion? That’s quite small for such a name! And too much skin… And regular taste…
Most likely, the breeders of this variety pruned it strictly to 1 stem and obtained huge fruits by severely culling/thinning the trusses. In that case, the flesh-to-skin ratio would be acceptable. In the South, you could probably do 2 stems if you feed it heavily.
It truly looks just like a flower. 🌺🌺🌺🌺
Quote from Zulfiya:
Most likely, the breeders of this variety pruned it strictly to 1 stem and obtained huge fruits by severely culling/thinning the trusses.
That surprised me too, especially the text on the seed packet stating: “Record fruit – 2 kg (4.4 lbs)”. I guess you really have to grow it to one stem, pinch off all the other tomatoes, and leave just one so it grows to 2 kg. But I can’t bring myself to do that, because the variety sets fruit after fruit effortlessly, and it doesn’t even care how many stems you leave it with, if not for the height limit of the greenhouse.
Quote from Zulfiya:
And regular taste…
Here I have to disagree. For a “regular” taste, I usually write “weak” or, even worse, “bland and watery.” This tomato has a worthy, true, clearly defined tomato flavor, both outdoors and in the greenhouse. The absolute opposite of it in taste would be Gribnoe Lukoshko (Mushroom Basket from Siberian Garden) — which has no taste and no smell.
By ripening time, tomato varieties are divided into: very early (from sowing to first harvest less than 105 days), early (106-110 days), mid-early (111-115 days), late (116-120 days), very late (over 120 days).
I read somewhere that Weight Champion and Lorraine Beauty (Beauté de Lottringa) are the exact same thing? Can someone dispel my doubts, is this true? 🤔
Quote from stolin:
I read somewhere that Weight Champion and Lorraine Beauty (Beauté de Lottringa) are the exact same thing? Can someone dispel my doubts, is this true? 🤔
Elena, judging by the photos, they are different. My Lorraine Beauty was less juicy and even more heavily ribbed. Although, maybe they really are the same thing.
Quote from elena1984:
Elena, judging by the photos, they are different. My Lorraine Beauty was less juicy and even more heavily ribbed. Although, maybe they really are the same thing.
Elena, thanks for the reply! Anything is possible, I just got these doubts after reading a description online. By the way, in A. Kulik’s catalog, Weight Champion is not nearly as heavily ribbed…
Nowadays there are so many ribbed varieties, and they all look alike. If you need them, I have seeds for Lorraine Beauty. By the way, my fruits of it were over 200g (7 oz).
