Heirloom Tomatoes

Variety

Description

Abraham Lincoln

Old time juicy variety packed with great tomato flavor.  Tender, fine texture with a fair amount of nicely tempered sweetness.  Popular since the 1920’s

Alice Roosevelt

Very nice “old fashioned” flavorful reds.  If you hunger for the taste of yesteryear’s tomatoes, try this one.

Arkansas Traveler

Developed by the University of Arkansas in 1968, well known for its ability to produce in hot weather.

Aunt Ginny’s Purple

Deep pink, similar in flavor to Brandywine

Black Cherry

A blackish-purple skinned cherry tomato with dark red flesh and a sweet, juicy flavor.

Box Car Willy

Smooth red tomato with tart-sweet flavor.  Texture makes it a great slicing tomato.

Brandywine

Dates back to 1885 and is regarded as one of the world’s finest flavored “beefsteak” tomatoes.  Clear skinned, light rosy pink fruit that has meaty and juicy flesh.  Believed to have Amish origins.

Cherokee Purple

Full flavored medium large dusky pink with dark shoulders thought to be grown originally by the Cherokee.

Cosmonaut Volkov Red

Ukrainian heirloom variety named after the famous Russian cosmonaut who dies while landing.  Russians grow this variety for prize-winning 1-2 lb fruits.  Round, slightly flattened fruits have a full, complex flavor and acid/sweet balance

Garden Peach

This heirloom is colored exactly like a peach and has a sweet mild flavor, perfect for salads.  It is rich in iron and Vitamin B15.  Originally from South America.

Glory of Moldova

When fully ripe interiors are carrot orange.  Flavor is fruity and sweet.

Green Zebra

Green skin with dark green stripes.  The meaty flesh is lime-emerald in color and has an invigorating lemon-lime flavor.

Mariana

Deep rose and unique because it is quite sweet with a mild acid after taste.

Marianna’s Peace

Creamy dense pink flesh with flavor similar to Brandywine.

Marvel Stripe

Favorite among many for the combination of beauty, color and taste.  Yellow-orange streaked with ruby red. Sweet fruity taste.  Originally from Oaxaca Mexico.

Missouri Pink Love Apple

Big, pink fruit are very rich tasting.  It was grown since the Civil War by the Barnes family, who grew it as an ornamental, believing (as many people did at that time) that tomatoes or “love apples” were poisonous.

Money Maker

An old English greenhouse variety and reliable producer of heavy crops of medium-sized, 4 50 5 ounce red, globe-shaped tomatoes.

Mortgage Lifter

Pink meaty fruit with few seeds.  According to lore, originated by M.C. Bayles, aka “Radiator Charlie” sold it for $1.00 per plant (back in the 1940’s when a dollar meant something) in order to pay off his mortgage.   When his radiator repair business slumped, he started crossbreeding his 4 best plants until he got a variety with tasted better and had larger fruit.  He promoted it as being able to feed a family of 6, thus justifying the price of $1.00 per plant, and paying off his house in just 4 years!

Yellow Pear

Miniature pear-shaped with sweet flavor.  Considered by some as “garden candy”.

Persimmon

Golden orange, considered one of the best-flavored orange tomatoes.  Quite meaty with few seeds.

Pruden’s Purple

Vivid dark pink skin with crimson flesh and few seeds; low in acid.

Rose DeBerne

Dark pink skin, smooth and perfectly round with a sweet flavor.  Wonderfully balanced with a bit of zing.  Swiss origins.

Stump o’the World

Similar in flavor and texture to the Brandywine.   Developed by Ben Quisenberry, a legendary seed saver who collected many heirloom varieties until his death in the mid 1980’s.  Tomato is also called “Big Ben” because he wasn’t fond of “Stump o’the World”.

Yellow Brandywine

The huge meaty fruit of the Brandywine with yellow skin and flesh.  Juicy flesh has more flavor than other yellow varieties.