Beef Heart Tomatoes!

I've never grown a heart shaped tomato. I've noticed a few people grow what they call beef heart tomatoes. The few photos I've seen have a lot of tomatoes with some hollow gel cells. I'm curious if the beef hearts are grown primarily as stuffer tomatoes. I also noticed a lot of the seed sold for beef hearts don't really have variety or cultivar names. They usually label them as a beef heart from Germany, or from Holland, or from Portugal; but they often look very much alike. Just curious!

Ted

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tedln

I've never grown a heart shaped tomato. I've noticed a few people grow what they call beef heart tomatoes. The few photos I've seen have a lot of tomatoes with some hollow gel cells. I'm curious if the beef hearts are grown primarily as stuffer tomatoes. I also noticed a lot of the seed sold for beef hearts don't really have variety or cultivar names. They usually label them as a beef heart from Germany, or from Holland, or from Portugal; but they often look very much alike. Just curious!

Ted

Being a heart lover I can assure you that I don't even know the name of a heart variety that's called Beef Heart unless you want to translate Cuore di Bue to Beef Heart, Italian, or Cuore de Toro, Spanish to Beefheart. Yes, there's Bull's Heart and even Serdste Buivola which is Buffalo Heart, but heart varieties are called hearts b'c they resemble the shape of a heart as an organ in an animal oif some kind.

But there's one heck of a lot of heart varieties that originated not in Europe and most are superb.

There are many many varieties that are from Europe but just as many that originated elsewhere and there's a thread here at Tville ALL about the heart varieties that folks have grown and for the most part loved.

I could give you a long list of the ones I've grown but so could others and maybe someone here who isn't watching the French Open from Paris could find that thread and link to it here. Or you could do a search yourself.

In the meantime I'll just link to Tania's list of heart varieties so you can get a sampling of what's out there for the growing :

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...haped_Tomatoes

I've never seen what you describe as hollow cells, or locules. Actually heart varieties have more dense flesh and fewer seed locules than almost any other type of variety except for most paste varieties which can't even approach the wonderful fresh eating tastes of most heart varieties.

So no, I don't know anyone who grows hearts for a stuffing tomato.


Hope that helps.

Edited to add that yes, as you mentioned above they all do look alike b'c they're all hearts but tastes are very different which is why we all have out own faves. Most hearts are red or pink but there's also some yellow/oranges and a white and a black and some green when ripe ones in the works.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

......some green when ripe ones in the works.

Green when ripe hearts? Do tell. I suppose this was discussed on an earlier thread so please point me in that direction. I assume not available yet?

Thanks,
Joe

[Duh_Vinci]

Ted,

I've actually never seen a heart shaped tomato with hollow cavities, the opposite, some the meatiest variety one can grow! Just a few:

Danko (from today, growing in container)



Zolotye Kupola (Russian commercial variety)



Dagestanskiy



White Oxheart



Bull's Heart Pink (from Russia, near Moscow that I grow every year)






Joe, GWR is on the wish list for a while now, been eyeballing Rainhard's site for his GWR heart for couple years now, but those from what I remember were not going to be available until F7 (Carolyn, correct me if I'm wrong), and I believe there is another GWR heart from different parents are also added to his project. Last short thread http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=16888.

I am growing some F2 that TZ mentioned in that thread, going in the ground next week, in hopes of finding and stabilizing the illusive GWR heart

Regards,
D

[piegirl]

Stop torturing us - I could almost feel the juice running down my chin - piegirl

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Green when ripe hearts? Do tell. I suppose this was discussed on an earlier thread so please point me in that direction. I assume not available yet?

Thanks,
Joe

Joe, thanks to DV who fetched that link about GWR hearts you can see what I was talking about. Yes, I will be growing the F3 GWR from Reinhard this summer as well as his purple heart F3 but as was said in that thread it's a long way to getting something genetically stabilized.

I just hope that this summer allows me to actually see and taste both the GWR and purple one and I don't know what kind of purple is being talked about, really.

And others in that thread also talked about what they're doing with a GWR heart and there are some others at other message sites who are also working with a GWR heart.

I'm pretty sure that the GWR F3 I'll be growing this summer is from the first cross he did for that and I mention that b'c DV also noted that he's used a different parent in a second initial cross which is more recent.

Hope that helps.

[JoeP]

D,

Thanks for the link. I remember reading that thread a while back after I started reading again.

In full disclosure, I am growing my first GWR this year (Grub's Mystery Green). Very much lookng forward to trying a GWR. I grew Kosovo last year but bad weather did not result well. I have read so many great comments about Kosovo in a recent tread about hearts that I am excited to try it again next year as well as a few other heart varieties.

I am hoping that someone is working on a Grubs Mystery Green X Kosovo cross as both are midseason tomatoes (and both are supposed to be good) and would produce in a short season climate.

[JoeP]

Carolyn,

Well then, I have no choice but to be patient. I remember a quote you posted recently from your Swedish Grandmother about patience being seldom found in a man. Ha!

While waiting for the GWR heart to make its way into circulation, I'll have to be content trying the other heart varieties. A recent thread about hearts had sparked my interest and will be adding a few to my grow list next year.

Thanks,
Joe

[jeffinjonestown]

Is a tomato still vegetarian friendly if it's called "beef heart?" Sorry, couldn't resist.

Originally Posted by jeffinjonestown

Is a tomato still vegetarian friendly if it's called "beef heart?" Sorry, couldn't resist.

This question requires a depth of thought beyond my ability. I guess I will need to ponder it awhile. My first thought would be a vegan may suffer a few minor pangs of guilt after eating one, but no real harm is done.

Ted

[ddsack]

That yellow Zolotye Kupola (Russian commercial variety) is beautiful! How does it compare to Anna Banana Russian?

[Duh_Vinci]

Unfortunately, I can't say, since I've never grown Anna Banana... Plants are rather compact indeterminate, wispy foliage. Fruits are large, definitely on the sweet side, and blemish free. Not a monster producer, but taste and size are well worth growing I think...

Regards,
D

[clara]

D, as always, wonderful pics! You're way ahead of me! Only some greenies in the hanging baskets and some tiny green fruits on several plants. I'm still busy with final transplant, but really difficult for me at the moment. Hope everything is okay with you! clara

[WVTomatoMan]

TedIn:

Heart tomatoes are not generally grown as stuffers. Maybe what you're describing is puffiness?

Randy

Randy, Nope, empty locules. I gave Carolyn a link to the photo in a PM and she said it isn't a normal heart. Apparently it is somehow misshapen.

Ted