Oxheart - Pretty but tastes terrible

[tam91]

I've eaten (make that tasted and thrown out) two tomatoes from this plant. One seemed pretty red, the second I picked a little earlier, more dark orange. In either case, it was absolutely disgusting - dry, pale, grainy, almost no pulp, almost no flavor - literally worse than any supermarket tomato I've ever had. Weird. My other tomatoes taste just fine btw, same growing conditions.

It was sold by my local nursery as simply "Oxheart". The lady there seems to think she's onto some secret no one else knows by selling heirlooms, and won't say exactly what things are, or where the seed came from *sigh*.

All oxhearts cannot possibly be this bad - any idea what this thing is (so I can avoid anything similar in the future, without having to avoid all oxhearts).

[carolyn137]

tam, that's not even heart shaped.

Yes, some sell seeds for what is called just Oxheart and then there's the Red, Pink and Yellow ones with Oxheart as a pre-fix that have been around forever but I'm convinced that the best hearts I've grown have come from named ones such as Linnie's Oxheart or Danko or German Red Strawberry or Kosovo or whatever.

I wouldn't deal with anyone who can't or won't disclose information about the varieties they grow for sale. You're the one shelling out the money and thus have a right to know as I see it.

But again, that "thing" you showed a picture of doesn't look like any heart varieties I've ever grown or seen pictures of. Heart varieties are wide at the top and then taper down to either an acute or blunt tip.

Yours is the exact opposite of that shape.

[cottonpicker]

Linnie's Oxheart WAS A WINNER here!!!!!! Anna Russian was also good for me.
LarryD

[oc tony]

If you have the time try cooking it. It may be one of those paste tomatoes that are grown for sauce only.

[cottonpicker]

tam91..... YOUR tomato looks like Franchi's (Seeds of Italy) RED PEAR.
It is a red, reverse-shaped oxheart.
LarryD

[tam91]

Thanks - I've always thought the German Strawberry looked pretty, maybe I'll try that next year, or some other. I do like a variety of looks - but not if they taste like that!

Haha at the "thing" - pretty much what I'm calling it. Of course, helpfully, it's fairly prolific, oh goody. And I do find the "secret varieties" bit very irritating - hence, I'm planning to try starting my own seed next year.

Paste tomato - well could be, I felt like I had a mouthful of paste. If I get a few at once, maybe I'll try cooking up a small batch of sauce and see, that's a good idea.

[tam91]

I went and looked up that Franchi's Red Pear. It sure does look the same. Searched it on the internet, and came up with a squid recipe. Maybe not haha.

[FILMNET]

Franchi red pear has ribs, i have a ton on 1 plant still green

[carolyn137]

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=11937

Franchi's Red Pear is just one of many large what are called piriforms ( pear shaped).

Above is a link to a thread from last year that discusses the many varieties and points out that the problem in naming these days probably goes back to the Italian wholesale sellers who are putting names on varieties that don't represent the variety at all.

The above thread started when last Year Baker Creek was selling seeds for German Red Strawberry that weren't, and the same picture they used was also at Territorial and Reimers, in one place as Coure di Bui and I can't remember the other one.

So, many large red pear shaped varieties.

And the thread is both informative and amusing at the same time.

I do wish that those who posted in that thread would give some updates here to let all of us know how things look this year.

[tam91]

OK, so I definitely have giant pear of some kind. Well, someone was just telling me about making marinara sauce with pork (sounds interesting), so I guess I'll gather these guys up and cook them.

Now, I'm trying to figure out if they're supposed to get red and quite ripe feeling, or more of a very deep orange. I'm currently inclined to think perhaps the orange is right.

Oh, I asked at the nursery where I purchased the plant (the one with the seed secrets) and got a response of "Oh.... I dunno....". And I have picked out my shelving for seed starting, and told hubby I want fluorescent lights for Christmas.

[habitat_gardener]

One of my best-tasting tomatoes last year was pear-shaped. I got the pitiful-looking plant at a plant exchange, so I have no way to check the seed source, but it was labeled Cuor di Bue. It ranged from 2-6 oz. (but most of my tomatoes last year were small).

This year I'm growing Ludmilla's Pink Heart, which is great.

[b54red]

If you are looking for great taste in a heart try Donskoi; but it is not overly prolific. If you want good taste and good production try Kosovo or Linnie's Oxheart. The above were much better tasting than German Red Strawberry for me this year and they made larger tomatoes.

[tam91]

Thank you - I'll add those to my "choose from" list for next year. Unfortunately, sunny space doesn't allow my preferred "one of each".

[b54red]

If I had to pick just one heart it would be Kosovo. It is very productive and the vines didn't get as large as Linnie's and the taste is excellent. It was also one of my earliest tomatoes.

[TomatoDon]

I also tried a couple "Oxheart" plants this year and have no idea what they really are. I also don't remember either plant proucing a single fruit. If I try an oxheart again it will probably be Kosovo like 554red mentioned. Whatever it was I planted was given a generic name and I should have known better, but like deer in rutting season, I lose my head in the spring when looking at tomato seedlings in the nursery section.