Heirloom tomatoes are one of summer ’s most prized bounties . The variety number into the 1000 with attending - catch name like Cherokee Purple , Green Giant , Kellogg ’s Breakfast , Abraham Lincoln and Yellow Oxheart . Loved for their motley of colouration and flavorful taste , heirloom Lycopersicon esculentum are a feast for the eyes and the palate , whether sliced on a plate or cooked intosauces .
What make heirloom tomatoes so darn special ? It turn out these strange fruits have a backstory just as colored as the tomato themselves .
What Makes an Heirloom Tomato an Heirloom Tomato?
" Normally , heirloom cite to a variety of tomato plant that has some nostalgia attached to it or some ethnic reference , " says Joseph M. Kemble , a go to sleep extension veg specialist and professor at Auburn University in Alabama . Like a family Bible , age-old desk or quondam timepiece that ’s handed down from generation to generation , heirloom tomatoes are guide down from season to season .
Some miscellanea can be trace back for centuries . Take , for example , the Brandywine tomato plant . " It ’s been around since the 1700s , probably brought here by the other settlers , " Kemble says . " Or , like many of my Italian congener , they bring tomato here and have grown the same diverseness for 60 to 70 years . "
What modify a love apple as an heirloom , accord to theFarmers ' Almanac , is that the seed is from a single hereditary line of descent that has remained " breed true " for at least 40 to 50 yr . Although , Kemble points out , a few hybrid and younger varieties sometimes get lumped into the heirloom tomato plant category . And that ’s hunky-dory .
There ’s no heirloom tomato certification or " tomato constabulary " manage the genuineness of the variety that claim to be heirloom . And really , corroborate a tomato ’s line of descent can get a second weedy even among gardeners with the best intentions . Heirloom love apple are open - pollinated , meaning they are pollenate naturally by birds , worm , wind or human hands . If two or more varieties are planted too faithful to each other , Mother Nature may play a role in thwartwise - cross-pollinate and creating a mystifying new miscellanea .
Categorizing an Heirloom Tomato
In an exertion to better define what constitutes an heirloom Lycopersicon esculentum , tomato expertsCraig LeHoullier and Carolyn Maleintroduced four categories :
Heirloom Tomatoes vs. Grocery Store Tomatoes
Once upon a time , people would saunter down to their local market and buy locally grown tomato plant which , by definition , were probable heirloom tomatoes , though not called such , says Hab Setze ofHabersham Farms , atop Lookout Mountain in Mentone , Alabama . " Up until World War II , no one was ship fresh produce across the country . " For one , the tomato plant were frail brute — extremely perishable , prone to disease and they simply did n’t jaunt well .
Then farmers started tinkering with the flora . Those audacious , utterly round and perfectly red tomatoes you find stacked in the produce division of thegrocery storeare crossbreed bred for trait such as high yield , disease resistance and the ability to embark and stack away well . Not only are they pleasing to the eye , but due to their high fruit , they ’re also easy on the pocketbook .
relatively , " when you bring forth heirlooms at exfoliation you get a lot less take per amount of land that you ’re farming , " Setze says . " So , you have to sell them for a lot more . "
alas , make an iconic round , red , affordable tomato that ’s also hardy and disease resistant means you lose other suitable trait — like savor .
" It does n’t matter what you do to them . you’re able to baby them . you could talk courteous to them . you’re able to lease them sit there on the vine and get ripe . And they ’re still bad , " Kemble says . There are exceptions , of course . One is the Celebrity , a commercial-grade crossbreed that is so tasty it is sometimes misguided for an heirloom , he says .
But do n’t be put on by the hype . Not all heirlooms are tasty . " There are some heirlooms I ’ve had that , honestly , are terrible , " he says , adding that taste is subjective . What one finds wonderful , another may witness unpalatable . " I recall an heirloom I tried from the Czech Republic . It was really interesting . It had sort of a Pine - Sol flavor . But , boy , that somebody who grew it love it and I was think , ' This is really dread . ' "
For all aim and purpose , heirloom tomato can ordinarily be identified by their appearance . " It ’s their uniqueness . They just appear interesting , " Kemble says .
Heirloom tomatoes come in a motley of shades , from Granny Smith apple Green River , sunshine yellow-bellied and vivacious orangeness to a pleasing pink and a plenteous purple - John Brown . They also come in a range of sizing and physique and are often scarred with deep grooves — " some say ugly , " Kemble lend . But challenging , notwithstanding .
" There ’s perfectly something unequalled about them , " Kemble enunciate . " Something interesting — a taste or a look . Something that tends to hearken back to our puerility . "
