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True, heirloom tomatoes are more disease prone and may have a shorter shelf life. They also follow their wild relatives in being of a more sprawling, vine habit.

Heirloom Tomatoes



All the talk is about ‘heirloom’ tomatoes. Given the appalling commercial offerings of the past few decades, at first blush this seems to a most welcome reversion. As with most things horticultural, the tale turns out to be somewhat more complicated.
Acceptance of Solanum lycopersicum to western cuisine is only a matter of some two centuries. Prior to the 19th century, tomatoes, if grown at all, were considered a rambling ornamental vine, perhaps even poisonous. The very tag lycopersicum, in fact, translates as ‘wolf peach’ – a belief that it was suitable for cutting canines dead. Nevertheless, in the past two-hundred-plus years, hundreds of varieties have come – and many gone. For tomatoes, like apples and many other crops, are genetically unstable. Add man’s insatiable curiosity to seeing what he – or she – can create something different, and by today there are perhaps 400 heirloom varieties surviving. Blame an obscure Austrian monk tinkering with his peas for the old-fashioned tomatoes demise. Mendel’s experiments revealed the possibilities of genetic intervention creating hybrid varieties. Carefully selected, these are tougher and above all more disease-resistant than their older cousins. But in the rush for resistance something was lost: flavour. Even worse was the development of cultivars that could be shipped without fear of damage. A Detroit product would suffer a dented fender at a mere 8 mph but a California or Florida fruit was good for an impact of 25 mph. Commercial seedsmen loved these new hybrids though. While farmers and gardeners could save seeds from older varieties from year to year, hybrid seed saved over winter will fail to breed true the following season. So the new cultivars seeds must be purchased afresh each and every season, to the distress of many a penny-pinching gardener.

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True, heirloom tomatoes are more disease prone and may have a shorter shelf life. They also follow their wild relatives in being of a more sprawling, vine habit. This is technically referred to as ‘indeterminate.’ In simple terms, it means the plants require staking. And no discarded hockey- or broomstick will suffice. We are talking about six- or even eight-foot two-by-two’s driven a foot or more into the ground. This does not endear them to commercial producers. But they had no choice until a fortunate mutation in 1914 Florida produced the now-familiar bush or ‘determinate’ tomato. Left to it though, most agree that the indeterminate ‘staking’ tomatoes are of a far superior flavour. The renewed interest in older varieties – they are even appearing in supermarkets – means it is possible to bite down on an old-fashioned ‘Beefsteak’ tomato. Richters of Goodwood, Ontario, for example offer it while noting its “old-fashioned real tomato flavour’” and taking 85 days to mature. They list two-dozen other intriguing selections, including some that mature as white or black or even stay green when ripe. In 1987, Rebecca Rupp wrote of the ‘Currant Tomato,’ Solanum pimpinellifolium, that it was “also grown, but rarely.” A quarter-century or so later, things have changed. Richters offers seeds of both the red and yellow forms (red maturing in 65 days, yellow 75 days), warning that some staking is required. The vines are said to be vigorous and indeterminate, with heavy foliage, and currant-sized fruit of intensely sweet flavour and growing in clusters. It is, in fact, a true wild tomato and an ancestor of our modern cultivated fruits. What are heirloom tomatoes in North America become heritage tomatoes in the insular U.K. There they know that the fruits of their labour should be pronounced Tom-ah-toes, just as the Aztecs did. Whether they appreciated heirloom or heritage tomatoes is unknown. Amongst other Aztec cuisine there featured dishes made of their sacrificial victims flavoured with liberal amounts of tomato. Bon appetite.


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Wes Porter -- Bio and Archives

Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.


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