13 Top Tasty Heirloom Tomatoes

July/August 2011

Kris Wetherbee

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Pick the heirloom tomato that appeals to you. There is no wrong answer. Rick Wetherbee

Even in the best of conditions, some tomatoes are simply more flavorful than others. Cherry-types are usually sweeter, yellow tomatoes are milder, deep garnet red to black varieties develop richer flavor, and green types are livelier. Not sure where to start? One of the following heirloom tomatoes may just win you over. 

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Plant Heirloom Tomato Plants in Your Vegetable Garden

• Black Krim (70-75 days): From the Black Sea of Russia, this prolific heirloom bears wonderfully rich, globe-shaped, 8- to 12-ounce fruits with an intense flavor and hint of saltiness. Great fresh or cooked, but a real sensation in salsa.
• Caspian Pink (75-85 days): Intensely sweet and rich Russian heir-loom with large pink beefsteak fruits (12 ounces or more) that rival Brandywine in popularity and flavor. Great for cooler climates.
• Cherokee Purple (70-80 days): Medium-large dusky-rose fruits with well-balanced, complex flavor — winey, sweet and very intense. Very productive and disease-resistant.
• Gary Ibsen’s Gold (75 days): Globe-shaped, 14-ounce fruits are brilliant orange-gold with tropical fruit flavors and enough acid balance to guarantee a burst of tomato flavor.
• Green Giant (85 days): Lime-green, 1- to 2-pound fruits are deliciously sweet and one of the best tasting green tomatoes. Potato-leaved German heirloom is vigorous and prolific.
• Green Zebra (75 to 78 days): Strikingly beautiful both in appearance and taste, the small green and amber-striped fruits sport a sweet, zingy flavor that will certainly grab your attention.
• Kellogg’s Breakfast (80-90 days): Deep golden-orange fruits with bright orange flesh and an exceptional sweet-tangy flavor. Thin-skinned, few seeds and meaty throughout.
• Paul Robeson (75 days): Rich and robustly flavored fruits are earthy with a good acid-sweet balance. Dusky dark red skin and red flesh. Good choice for cooler regions.
• Pineapple (85-90 days): Eye-catching bicolored fruits streaked with red and yellow inside and out are exotically sweet with pineapple undertones. Very fruity. Performs best in warmer regions.
• Pruden’s Purple (75 days): Large 10- to 16-ounce fruits and crimson flesh dressed in a delicious shade of purple. The texture is creamy, and the flavor is exceptional.
• Sioux (70-80 days): Prolific producer of 2½-inch, blemish-free red fruits with a slightly tart old-fashioned tomato flavor. Tolerant to heat, pests and disease.
• Stupice (55 days): Early cold-tolerant variety from the Czech Republic bears clusters of ping-pong ball size, deep red fruits. Great tomato flavor with a good sweet/acid blend. Extra early.
• Tigerella (75 days): Apricot-sized red fruits with stripes of yellow and orange boast exceptionally lively flavor on extremely productive plants that produce all season. Disease-resistant.