Tag: heirloom tomatoes

  • Black Pearl: A heirloom hybrid tomato

    Black Pearl: A heirloom hybrid tomato

    Black Pearl Hybrid tomato (Photo from Burpee.com)
    Black Pearl hybrid tomato (Photo from Burpee.com)

    Here I go again, monitoring the tomato sweepstakes on my front walkway. I have four plants in containers, and their proximity satisfies my obsessive urge to count blossoms and tiny green fruits several times a day. Last year’s winner was grape tomato ‘Mighty Sweet’ and it’s back again, along with early fruiting ‘Fourth of July’ (I’ll be watching that date) and ‘Black Pearl’, a new entry into the competition. ‘Black Pearl’ is a vining cherry tomato with 1.5-inch (4-cm), brownish-red round fruits. The immature fruits are almost entirely brown, ripening to a dark burnished red. ‘Black Pearl’ is on the cutting edge of a new category plant breeders are calling heirloom hybrids.

    Heirloom tomatoes with odd shapes, complex flavours and vivid colouring have been bred with modern hybrids to produce compact, disease-resistant plants with uniform fruit shapes. In some instances, the characteristics of several heirloom varieties are combined in a volatile mix, such as the new ‘Tye-Dye’ hybrid, a mix of genetics from ‘Big Rainbow’, ‘Pineapple’ and ‘Georgia Streak’ heirloom tomatoes, with an infusion of disease resistance and standardized growth habit from unnamed modern hybrids. ‘Tye-Dye’ has gold-and-red seven-ounce (200-g) fruits, marbled red interiors and a sweet, non-acidic flavour. Its bigger yields, consistent form and improved disease resistance surpass the performance of its heirloom gene contributors, while purportedly retaining their desirable flavour and colour characteristics.

    Labelling tomatoes as heirloom is a way of categorizing plants, and can have more than one meaning. Domestic heirloom tomatoes refers to garden plants (and their saved seeds) that have been passed down through several generations of a single family. Commercial heirloom seeds are saved and field-grown from open-pollinated varieties in circulation for more than 50 years, and still available for purchase (such as my grandfather’s ‘Rutgers’ tomatoes). Spontaneous, or natural heirlooms, are tomatoes that have crossed their genetics in the garden (via wind and bees), and then been discovered and grown on from saved seed.

    What’s good about heirloom tomatoes is their flavour. If you’ve tasted a slice of a deep pink ‘Brandywine’ tomato, you’ll know real tomato taste. (‘Brandywine’ has now been re-bred as the heirloom hybrid ‘Brandymaster’, available in red and yellow selections, with more uniformly shaped fruit and increased disease resistance). What’s less desirable about some heirlooms is their irregularly shaped fruit, long vines with low yields, vulnerability to diseases and thin-skinned fruit with a tendency to crack.

    When plant genes are crossed in a breeding program, the intention is to enhance some characteristics and lose or reduce others. The infusion of strong modern genes is meant to result in tomatoes with the best of both categories. However, some desirable genes, such as scent genes in roses, occasionally defy efforts to harness and redirect them. I seriously hope that re-breeding heirloom tomatoes doesn’t decrease the flavour in the resulting hybrids.

    I’ll be carefully watching my ‘Black Pearl’ tomato plant for signs of heirloom quality and modern vigour. ‘Black Pearl’ is bred from a combination of heirloom ‘Black Cherry’ (a dark mahogany-red cherry tomato) and modern mystery genes.

    Given the choice, I’d like a perfect tomato with superior flavour, short vines, high yield, consistent fruit shape and strong disease resistance. But the bottom line is that the flavour must be there. Otherwise, I’ll settle for a more troublesome, but delicious, tomato plant.

  • Taste-testing veggies at Stokes

    Taste-testing veggies at Stokes

    Last week, I visited Stokes Seeds’ trial gardens in St. Catharines, Ont., where I ate veggies, learned about a new way to grow tomatoes, and then ate more veggies.

    Walking through the masses of tomatoes in Stokes Seeds' trial gardens.
    Walking through the masses of tomatoes in Stokes Seeds’ trial gardens.

    I’m convinced that a tomato eaten while standing in the garden right after it has been picked is far more delicious than a tomato eaten in the kitchen just a few feet away. Along with other gardeners who had made the trip, I walked and ate my way through the expansive trial gardens, comparing tastes and textures of tomatoes and peppers. (I couldn’t bring myself to bite into a raw eggplant.)

    Gardeners love to share their opinions, but one opinion that I did not share with the crowd is that until a year or two ago, I hated tomatoes. My whole life, I have picked tomatoes out of salads, steered clear of any sauces that had non-liquified tomatoes and asked for no tomato on my sandwiches.

    This has gradually changed, and basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar may be to thank for that. With a new, palatable way to eat tomatoes in my life, I have recently made an exciting discovery: I’m a sucker for sweet yellow tomatoes. There were a few yellow tomatoes to try at the trial gardens, and the ‘Golden Honey Bunch’ grape tomato was my favourite. It was sweet and juicy, with just enough bite. I popped several in my mouth, something I would never have been able to do a few years ago.

    When discussing which tomatoes end up in grocery stores, it was interesting to learn that my favourite may not be up to par, because its skin tends to split more than that of other varieties. When selecting which tomatoes will end up in stores, it doesn’t all come down to flavour. The length of time a tomato can go from being picked to being eaten without bruising, plus its size and any imperfections in its appearance, are all factors.

    Rows and rows of peppers, ready for picking.
    Rows and rows of peppers, ready for picking.

    For example, some tomatoes have a “nipple gene” which causes a little bump on its skin opposite its stem. It doesn’t affect taste, but those tomatoes often aren’t sold in stores because shoppers would rather select unblemished tomatoes. This is all the more reason to grow tomatoes at home, because you can grow and eat tomatoes purely for their taste, and not worry about transportation or colouring.

    This explains why you rarely see heritage or heirloom tomatoes in grocery stores — they often don’t have a very long shelf life, and wouldn’t survive the trip. They will, however, survive the trip from your garden to your kitchen.

    I’ve had some success growing a grape variety in a container, which I believe proves that tomatoes are not difficult to grow. Maybe next year I’ll try one of the bigger heirloom types. Garden Making has published several good articles on growing tomatoes, and Judith Adam has tips on harvesting late-season tomatoes in her blog, “Making a Garden.” As I learn from more experienced gardeners and do as they recommend, I’ll be rewarded with tastier tomatoes than those I find in my grocery store.

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