I was once told by a woman at a gardening center that I had “The Disease” when it came to finding the ultimate heirloom tomatoes. She was right. My Italian grandma started teaching me how to grow tomatoes in 1979. It turned out my tiny 3-year-old fingers were perfect for making holes in the garden soil and suckering excess shoots. Everything that followed from there was just another step on my destined journey of tomato gardening zeal.
She taught me to grow different types of tomatoes for every occasion. Cherry tomatoes for salads, big slicer tomatoes for sandwiches, and plum tomatoes for canning or making into sauces.
Over the more than four decades since I’ve embarked on a journey of discovery. Delving deep into the lore of heirloom and open-pollinated tomatoes. I’ve known the joys of perfectly plump San Marzano tomatoes and the crashing lows of watching early blight devour all my Abe Lincolns. I’ve savored the complex flavors of just a few Black Krim and been overwhelmed by the simultaneous ripening of determinate moskvich.
In recent years I’ve settled down to grow some of the best of the best heirloom and open-pollinatedtomato varieties. I stay away from hybrids simply because I want to save the seeds year after year from the best of the best plants. Just like Grandma taught me I grow different types for different reasons.
If you told me that I could only grow 10 tomato varieties for the rest of my life. The following are my top picks.
1: Matt’s Wild Cherry
If you have a container garden on your patio or just limited space to grow just one tomato plant, I would choose Matt’s Wild Cherry. There’s a very strong argument to go with Sweet 100. The thing that tips the scales for me is that Matt’s wild cherry is an heirloom variety, that you can save the seeds from year after year, and it has a legacy connection to it. Whereas Sweet 100 is ahybrid concocted by agronomists in a laboratory setting.
The “Unverified” story behind Matt’s wild cherry is that it was found growing in the wild in the ruins of an old Mayan village outside of modern-day Hidalgo Mexico. Its seeds eventually found their way into the hands of Doctor Matt Liebman who was so impressed by the production, flavor, and other characteristics that he brought it to the rest of the world.
Matt’s Wild Cherry grows a sprawling, yet surprisingly compact plant, with very good disease resistance. Itmakes small cherry tomatoes with an intense sweet flavor. Itsdays to maturity is only 55 to 60, whereas Sweet 100 can take 65 to 70 days.
Pro Tip
One minor drawback to Matt’s Wild Cherry is that it isn’t very cold and hardy and is slightly more vulnerable to transplant shock. To prevent these problems, you want to make sure that the soil you’re transplanting the seedling into is fully warmed to at least 65 degrees.
I also grow the Wild Cherry seedlings in a 6-inch diameter peat pot and transplant it directly into the garden. The peat pot provides added insurance against transplant shock, and the tomato seedling’s roots will grow straight through it in a week or two.
2: San Marzano
San Marzano is arguably the most renowned tomato variety in the world. They’re famously grown in the Campania region of Italy near Naples. I even have seeds derived generations down the line from the ones grandma brought with her sewn in a cigarette cellophane in the hem of her dress when she fled post-war Italy.
If you talk to anyone from Campania, they’ll tell you that a true San Marzano must be grown in their soil. I’ve had some, and I think they might be right. Still, you shouldn’t let this Italian take on terroir block you from growing these beauties.
San Marzano is a plum tomato, with thick flavorful fruit that’s perfect for fresh sauces and canning. They also have very few seeds and very little internal gel in their locules.
Pro Tip
If you can’t get your hands on certified San Marzano tomato seeds, you can use Roma without much difference. In a salad, canned, or made in a fresh sauce, only the most refined tomato palate can detect a difference between San Marzano and Roma.
The biggest difference is when you cook them in a sauce with a splash of wine. San Marzano has a much greater density of alcohol-soluble flavor compounds, which are released when cooked in wine.
3: Black Krim
These days everyone wants to rip their shirt open like Hulk Hogan, asking Mean Gene Okerlund what’s he gonna do when he hasn’t grownPurple Cherokee tomatoes. Yet if you ask me to choose a “Purple” or “Black” tomato, I’m gonna tell you that Black Krim is the best option for growing and eating.
It’s an indeterminate slicer tomato originally from the Crimean Peninsula and tends to draw up more minerals from the soil than most other tomatoes. This gives the tomatoes the purple/black exterior with green shoulders like you see in Purple Cherokee. It also has a depth of flavor and an inherent saltiness that I think outshines all other black/purple tomatoes.
The other thing I love about Black Krim is that it ripens much sooner than a lot of other slicers. Some Black Krim varieties will give you ripe fruit in as little as 65 days after transplanting into the garden. This means I’m eating a Black Krim BLT many weeks before my neighbor picks his first 85-day Purple Cherokee.
Pro Tip
The honest drawback with Black Krim is that they’re very prone to fungal diseases, and have little resistance against them. If a Black Krim tomato plant so much as spots an early blight spore in the distance, it will start developing spots on its lower leaves!
You have to be prepared for this with preventive sprays and clean soil. If you’ve had serious early blight problems in the past, you might want to pass over Black Krim in favor of Purple Cherokee, which does have better fungal resistance.
4: Brandywine OTV
Deep in the bowels of tomato purist lore the Brandywine OTV stirs up a little bit of controversy. It’s technically a cross between a heritage yellow Brandywine and some other red tomato. Yet what you get is an indeterminate plant, with potato leaves, that makes a firm, flavorful red globe.
I like Brandywine OTVbecause it has the exceptional flavor of the heirloom Brandywine, but it produces fruit in as little as 65 to 72 days after transplanting. Whereas a traditional Brandywine and similar slicer tomatoes like Soldacki and Caspian take 80 to 85 days or more to give you your first ripe fruit.
5: Mortgage Lifter
Mortgage Lifter is another one of those heirloom tomatoes with a charming story behind it that will draw you in. Then the massive, delicious slicer tomatoes it produces will steal your heart. These tomatoes are perfect for an avid tomato gardener who loves to cook stuffed tomatoes!
The original story is that Mortgage Lifter is the brainchild of an entrepreneur named Radiator Charlie. He owned a radiator shop in a popular mountain pass in the Appalachian Mountains, and in his spare time created an open pollinator/heirloom tomato in his backyard by hand pollinating 6 different varieties. It became so popular that he paid off his mortgage by selling the tomatoes and seeds.
Mortgage Lifter produces a big indeterminate plant with a lot of massive, flavorful slicer tomatoes. It’s better suited for growing zones 5 and warmer. There are two different varieties and the days to maturity can be 80 to even 95 days or more depending on the type of seeds you find.
Just like any tomato that produces large fruit, there’s an increased risk of cracking due to watering stress. The wise move is to use a drip irrigation system to keep the soil consistently moist.
Pro Tip
There are two primary varieties of Mortgage Lifter seeds out there. The original, created by Radiator Charlie takes 95 days to maturity and the refined variety is rated for 80 to 85 days. Radiator Charlie’s original seeds are much harder to find andwon’t be found in any garden center.
I’ve grown both versions of Mortgage Lifter, and while you get slightly better flavor and slightly bigger fruits from the original, I still prefer the refined version. Not only do you get to enjoy the tomatoes earlier in the season, but they’re less prone to cracking and have better disease resistance.
6: Cherokee Purple
Cherokee Purple is the “Gateway Tomato” for a lot of people who first get into growing heirloom tomatoes. You can find authentic plants in a lot of garden centers, and it’s one of the easiest heirloom tomatoes seeds you can find on the internet.
The history behind it is a little murky. Tall tales speak of it being found in the ruins of a Cahokia settlement hundreds of years ago. The only verifiable lineage is that in 1990 John Green mailed heirloom tomato expert Craig LeHoullier a packet of tomato seeds that he said were grown by a Cherokee tribe for over a century.
Whatever, the truth is, Cherokee Purple gives you a classic “Black” slicer tomato with dusky purple flesh and green shoulders. It yields mature fruit in 80 to 85 days and has superior disease resistance than a lot of similar “Black” tomatoes like Black Krim.
7: Costoluto Genovese
This is an Italian heirloom variety that my grandma also grew in her garden for it’s culinary uses. Not only does it produce funky-looking tomatoes with a high sugar content and bright flavor. You can use it for cooking fresh sauces in dishes likeCacciuccoallaLivornese, as well as canning, and slicing onto sandwiches. You can even cut the ridges down into salads.
Costoluto Genoveseproduces a lot of tomatoes on an indeterminate plant that can easily grow over 6 feet tall. It’s rated at 78 days to maturity and has a reputation for taking on the terroir flavor of the soil its grown in. So, you want the richest soil possible.
The drawback of Costoluto Genovese is that it’s very vulnerable to fungal diseases like early blight. It’s frustrated me so much that I’ve had years where I chose not to grow it.
Pro Tip
The only shadow of a solution I’ve found to Costoluto Genovese’s disease susceptibility is to grow Costoluto Genovese in a container with fresh soil. Placed at least 25 feet away from other tomato plants and other potential fungal carriers like raspberries.
8: Lemon Boy
There are both heirloom and hybrid versions of Lemon Boy that are almost completely identical. However, the heirloom variety tends to have more ribs, and the hybrid version is more spherical.
As a yellow tomato Lemon Boy has lower acidity, which is nice for people with acid reflux or trying to eat a low-acid diet, but still want to enjoy tomatoes. They tend to be slightly smaller than an average slicer tomato, yet bigger than a large cherry tomato, which makes them a great addition to salads and finger sandwiches.
9: Paisano
Paisano is a determinate paste or plum-style tomato that is as close to San Marzano or Roma as you can get. They might be the perfect choice if you’re the type of gardener who likes to can paste tomatoes, but you don’t want to get worn out canning two or three days a week.
In my experience, the determinate nature of Paisano will give you a full bounty of ripe tomatoes for canning over a 2-week period. This lets you get all your canning for the season taken care of in just two or three long Saturday canning sessions.
10: Black Cherry
If you’re looking for a cherry tomato with a depth of flavor that can also stand up as a conversation piece at your next garden party, then you have to try growing black cherries. It has the same trait as Black Krim that draws up minerals and terroir flavors from the soil. It also tends to have better disease resistance than a lot of other “Black” tomatoes.
You won’t get as much fruit as you will from a Sweet 100 or a Matt’s Wild Cherry plant. Still, you’ll have more than enough to enjoy flavorful salads and seafood dishes.
One of the cool things I like about Black Cherry tomatoes is that theyseem to be favorable for selection. If you notice a plant that grows slightly larger fruit than the other plants and save seeds from that plant, the next generation will also have larger fruits. Year after year you can select the traits you like best, to create a customized twist on the black cherry tomato that is all your own.
Pro Tip
Black Cherry tomatoes will expose soil deficiencies in their flavor, from their ability to draw up minerals from the soil. They will also deplete soil micronutrients faster than other tomato varieties. If your Black Cherry tomatoes taste a little bland, you need to fortify your soil in summer and the spring. Adding organic matter like compost, bone meal, soluble potash, dolomitic garden lime, and Epsom salt will take the flavor of Black Cherry tomatoes to the next level. While also rejuvenating your garden soil.
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.