A Tomato History of Heirloom Tomatoes

Can a tomato have a tomato history? If they want to be an heirloom tomato, they’ll have to! Heirloom tomatoes are special, and what makes them special is that in order to become an heirloom tomato, your variety much meet three criteria; it must be produced from 100% heirloom tomato seeds of the same variety, no cross-varieties, the tomato must have been produced for more than 50 years, and each variety of heirloom tomatoes must have it’s own story to tell.

Perhaps the history of the tomato is how it was introduced originally. Perhaps it was more a geographical thing of where the tomato originated and how it came into general use. Or perhaps the story is a family one where a particular heirloom variety of tomato has been used in the same family for generations. Each one carefully seeded for the next year’s crop of tomatoes.

Designer Heirloom Tomatoes

Two of the most stunning characteristics of heirloom tomatoes are their color and shape. Like many varieties of fruit and vegetables, the names of these tomatoes are also interesting and give some hint of their history, or their physical attributes. Names such as Cherokee Purple – which produces large purple tomatoes, or the pink shaded English Rose. Old German are yellow tomatoes with red streaks, whilst plum lemon varieties are plum shaped and bright yellow in color. The interesting shape of the Pink Accordion tomatoes must make that a spectacular sight to see when ready to harvest!

There are hundreds of varieties of heirloom tomatoes to choose from, if you see some offered in your seed catalogs, add a packet of colorful ones to your order – they’ll be a real conversation piece when they start to grow!

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