Wouldn't it be better to look at the various LONG threads here already about hearts and then list a few for us to choose from based on what folks in those threads have already said?

Doing it this way I'll tell you, I'm a heart lover big time, ask Damon, but how can I recommend one over another, for ONE BEST heart?

How can anyone. Seasons are different, performance can be different, and then we get to taste, and taste can be different from year to year as well as depending on how a person grows their tomatoes, what amendments they use, the weather, sometimes the seed source, etc.

OK, I'll give you 10:

LO
IR
AR
GRS
NC
UH
AMH
R117
D and K ( two different ones. they won't post separately and I don't know why.

My current faves are D and LO. LOL

Just playing a wee game here as I'm sure you know. ( smile)

Carolyn

Here you go.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heart tomato discussions

Try Kosovo, Oxheart and Giant Oxheart.

You's forgot W, and HY. And S. And OG.

...and ABR... and BBH... and HP... and soon to be KBH...

You's forgot W, and HY. And S. And OG.

*****

Lordy, Lordy I can't forget W. LOL

Mark, I was just letting the heart portion of my brain take over for a minute so I know there others still up there in that heart brain area. LOL

Carolyn

And you forgot TK and RRH!

Damon

And and B. Don't forget B.

LO -- ???
IR -- ???
AR -- Anna Russian
GRS -- German Red Strawberry
NC -- Nicky Crain
UH -- Ukrainian Heart
AMH -- Anna Maria's Heart
R117 -- Russian 117
D -- Danko
K -- Kosovo
W -- Wes
HY -- Herman's Yellow
S -- ???
OG -- ???
ABR -- Anna Banana Russian
BBH -- Brad's Black Heart
HP -- ???
KBH -- ???
TK -- Tsar Kolokol
RRH -- Reif Red Heart
B -- Bobbie

Linnie's Oxheart
Indiana Red
Oleyar's German?

Not sure about S; no idea about HP or KBH (but apparently that's not released yet?).

Oh and SB, hehehe figure that one Bob.

Damon

Oxheart and Spurtsguy Bratheart

S = Slankard's. I posted slices pic earlier this eve.

Slankard's

Large (4-5"), blocky pink fruits with very few seeds; great flavor; excellent canner.

MI BY M 96

Family heirloom Michael Byrne, Lawton, MI.

And you guessed my uncle's tomato correctly!

Also, HP = HeShPoLe (Heart Shaped Potato Leaf.)

Indet Potato Leaf variant of Large Pink Bulgarian. Pink 16oz huge heart shaped fruits selected for shape by a friend in MT from F5 original seed from "Fusion" Darrell Jones. Named "Heshpole" from HEart (HE) SHaped (SH) POtato (PO) LEaf (LE).

KBH = Kellogg's Breakfast Heart cross #1. (PL red) PL. A cross of a large orange beefsteak, Kellogg's Breakfast, with a yet undisclosed heart shaped variety in Carolyn Male's garden in 2004. Fruits so far are heart shaped and dark orange to red.

ALSO: Kellogg's Breakfast Heart cross #2. (RL pink) A cross of a large orange beefsteak, Kellogg's Breakfast, with a yet undisclosed heart shaped variety in Carolyn Male's garden in 2004. Fruits so far are heart shaped and PINK.

I will try to get a 2009 pic tomorrow-- I just planted the KBH's June 30th or July 1st but harvested 1 from each PL plantr today, (Friday, 8/7.) Here are last year's pics, obviously, Carolyn won't be able to identify the other parent!

KB Heart PINK F2:

{{gwi:1382232}}
{{gwi:1382234}}

KB Heart PL RED F2:

{{gwi:1382238}}

This year's PL F3's look more orange than red... camera battery's charging right now, gotta find my "signature" foam plate...

Kosovo

I'm sure Carolyn can tell you Bob what SB and another I cant believe we forgot, OS is. Truth be told I cant spell SB right anyway, so we'll wait for Carolyn on that one.

Damon

Wes is the largest plant in the garden, and loaded with fruit, and I'm growing several other huge varieties. Kosovo (large but not huge plant) has a very heavy fruit set. Both have resisted the foliage diseases that have hit the garden.

Mark, you know I looked at my notes from my 2004 growout and there's no way I can tell the other parent, but when you get those two genetically stabilized I claim 100% of the genes as coming from me and would love to grow them out. LOL

But first some naming would have to happen. Right?

Didn't someone ask about OS? That's Orange Strawberry but really isn't in my top whatever list; just personal opinion.

And yes, I forgot SB, that's Serdtse Buivola and I'm growing it this year again as Bawale Cerce, which is the same variety translated from the Polish, but I didn't know that when I initially got the seeds. Sigh.

I mean we could list ALL the hearts we could think about but I'm sure each of us has faves taken from a much larger list.

Yes?

Carolyn, who notes it was 45F when she got up and it's now ZOOMED up to 49F, ahem, and with every passing day it looks less likely that there will be fruits for almost ALL the new to all varieties she's growing this year, just based on growth to date and not even considering the Late Blight threat which is all around her immediate area now.

2 different F3 plants, 2 different fruit:

{{gwi:1382240}}

{{gwi:1382242}}

Hard to tell but both hearts, 1972 Monte Carlo 402 Big Block Burnt Orange...

What's this?

Orange Russian 117?

Looks like dinner to me Bob.

The bi-color above was in a display of approximately 30 similar tomatoes at the Encino Farmer's Market yesterday. About five of those tomatoes had a beefsteak form, while the rest looked like the one above. I asked the vendor what type it was, and he said Pineapple. Of the yellows I've tasted Pineapple is a good one, but I was hoping this was OR 117, so I could try it and save some seed. Cherokees, Brandywines and Pineapple are by far, far, the most common heirlooms in West LA Farmer's Markets. I'm not sure why Pineapple became so popular but it is. I was going to pass on the "fake heart" but then I thought what if this guy's are truly heartshaped? A good 80% of his display was heartshaped and the other Pineapple displays were nothing like that. It would be unique if nothing else. So I bought it and will save the seed.

Bob-Your not missing out on anything with OR 117. For me it was very mild tasting tomato. But beautiful as heck.

Damon

Bob, that's not a version of Pineapple, which is a typical beefsteak gold/red bicolor and I've never seen anyone get heart shaped fruits from it.

True gold/red bicolors have that second reddish/pink color that starts at the blossom end and moves upwards towards the stem end. Despite the names of some of them that have stripe or streak in the variety name they aren't regularly streaked or striped. And bicolor b'c the exterior secondary color is also found in the interior.

Orange Russian #117 is the result of a deliberate cross between Russian #117 and Georgia Streak, another beefsteak bicolor, that was made by Jeff Dawson in CA and Jeff first listed it in the SSE YEarbook in 1999 after making selections from that cross.

Most, but not all of the fruits of OR #117 are medium sized hearts, some doubles like the parent R #117, but most singles, and some are globes or mini beefs.

Like Damon, I wasn't too impressed with it at all re taste, production, etc.

Carolyn

Sooo, what the heck is it? I'll be in LA every weekend for awhile, I think. I could go back and photograph that display next week to show you that it's almost all hearts coming off the plants. That is if the vendor is back with them.

Personally, I would be surprised if this was OR 117. I'll slice it up soon. It's ready.

Personally, I would be surprised if this was OR 117

****

Why would you be surprised?

It looks like Orange Russian 117 to me. ( smile)

What am I missing here?

Carolyn

• "Why would you be surprised?"

Hard to explain, but maybe this will make sense.

Maybe it wouldn't be surprising, but these markets, two in Santa Monica, Brentwood, Westwood, West LA, Encino, and Studio City all have a very generic feel to their heirloom tomato inventory. I could walk you to maybe 4 dozen produce booths that sell the exact same three cultivars, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine (two or three varieties), Pineapple. It becomes as boring as sitting in traffic on the 405. I suspect a bulk supplier is responsible, downtown in the wholesale produce mart.

Beyond that there's some black cherry or chocolate cherry, and always a few different hybrids, Big Beef and Russo Bruno being popular along with several grocery store vine ripe types. Even with hybrids I sense a bulk supplier. This isn't for all vendors, but for most.

The ones that don't fit this description seem far more fluent in the language of tomato. I've found three vendors, just three, that sell an "heirloom variety". Those three talk the talk.

The others all seem quite clueless about the difference in Red Brandywine and Big Beef, or hybrid and OP for that matter. I could go on about how clueless they are; the way they've responded to my questions, but this explanation is too long already.

Cherokee, Brandywine, Pineapple. Those are literally, as far as two gals in one booth knew, the "only" heirloom tomatoes. They had a Purple Roma shaped, likely Purple Russian, and insisted it was Cherokee Purple just smaller.

I'm painting this picture because the heart I bought came from a booth that had three types of tomatoes only, and the typical clueless clerk. Cherokee Purple, Pink Brandywine, and the heart he enthusiastically insisted was Pineapple. Even when I called him on it, showed him a normal Pineapple from across the aisle, and explained I had been studying heart types and only one bicolor heart, OR 117, made sense to me.

So where would someone from this environment get OR 117? By accident? Okay, but that seems unlikely. Deliberately? Doubtful, imo.

I had a bunch of my last Celebrities form perfect heart shapes. I wish I photographed them. I was sure the heat caused the elongated blossom ends like it caused nipples on Arkansas Traveler and Better Boy. I thought perhaps this Pineapple "heart" may have been like those Celebrities. That seems more likely than one of these generic booths having OR 117 and not knowing it. The few booths that would have a unique variety seem proud of the fact.

I could be completely mistaken. This is all quite new to me. And that hurt my head to explain.

I have to admit I've gotten a little lost with the abbreviations. I did notice "Oxheart" (or should I say "O") pop up more than once - can I get more opinions on it?

Also, to clarify things, I'm not asking for the "best" heart variety; I am asking for everyone's personal favorite. I look for varieties that show up multiple times among different people and ones that show traits that I want.

• "Looks like dinner to me Bob."

Trudi definitely got this one right.

The best variety is: what can you grow well in your area and you think tastes good. I don't like the sweet tomatoes very much. I like tomatoes that have a strong robust tomato flavor. For this reason I am planting two of each of the following next year.

Mexico
Brandywine OTV
Cherokee Purple
Black from Tula
Mariannas Peace
Omar's Lebanese
Neves Azorean Red
Box Car Willie
Aunt Gerties Gold
Aunt Ruby's German Green

I am also thinking about Mortgage Lifter, Mirabell, Prudens Purple, Brown Derby, and Goose Creek. But space and water rationing will determine that. I just found out that my city is planning on raising our water rates 20% starting Nov 1. I can't believe in this economic climate I gotta pay more money for water. I am so tired of paying the bloated salary's and gold-plated benefit packages of these damn government workers. I am telling you a revolt is coming.

Tom

color- Orange Strawberry
taste-Kosovo
texture- most hearts have a meaty texture, so any of the ones mentioned will do, this is one of the main reasons I love hearts so much
production- Hungarian Heart also consistently big

catman, as I said initially, my two best hearts right now are:

Danko
Linnie's Oxheart

When someone lists just Oxheart I'm not sure what they're referring to since there's Pink Oxheart, Yellow Oxheart and Red Oxheart that have been around for years and I consider them to be rather generic, have grown all three and much prefer many of the named heart varieties.

Carolyn

I feel like a real neophyte among you experienced heart-growers, but for what it's worth...I haven't seen Golden Oxheart listed. That's the only one that I've grown. It has good tart tomato flavor and good texture. The best yellow or golden variety that I've grown.
John A

I feel like a real neophyte among you experienced heart-growers, but for what it's worth...I haven't seen Golden Oxheart listed. That's the only one that I've grown. It has good tart tomato flavor and good texture. The best yellow or golden variety that I've grown.
John A

****

John, some call Yellow Oxheart Golden Oxheart b'c it does ripen to gold; same variety, two names.

For a great tasting yellow/gold variety please try Aunt Gertie's Gold. With few exceptions almost all varieties that have yellow as part of the variety name do ripen up to gold,

Carolyn

• It looks like Orange Russian 117 to me. ( smile)

What am I missing here?

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn. I made it back to the vendor with the bicolored hearts he claims are Pineapple. Contrary to my report above he did in fact have several varieties unique to his display --Carolina Gold, Ananas Noire, Black Brandywine, and the bicolored heart. I now agree he's growing OR117 and calling it Pineapple because Pineapple is a very big seller in LA. Calling it Orange Russian 117 might not be as appealing to customers. He told me this time after a little more debate that it is really Copia Pineapple. I told him Dr. Male disagrees. ;)

Fwiw, I thought the tomato was pretty good, mild, very sweet, thick firm meat, and pretty similar to other bicolors, like Pineapple. Then I had it on a BLT.

He told me this time after a little more debate that it is really Copia Pineapple. I told him Dr. Male disagrees. ;)

*****

There is no such variety as Copia Pineapple. LOL

Pineapple is a well known gold red bicolor that's a family heirloom.

Copia was bred by Jeff Dawson in CA and is a selection from a cross between Green Zebra and Marvel Striped. ( smile)

Carolyn

Going back to the original question, my all time favorite heart shaped tomato is Rostova, also renamed Sunset's Red Horizon. IMO amazing productivity, staying power, texture and taste puts this tomato far ahead of any other heart shaped variety. From Tomato Fest's website:
This heirloom tomato is a huge, 4 to 5 1/2-inch, red, meaty flesh, oxheart-shaped, glorious fruit. An outstanding heirloom native to Southern Russia with wispy vines similar to the popular Anna Russian. Introduced to the west by Nik Peplenov who immigrated to the US in 1999 and brought with him his favorite heirloom seeds from the Rostov Don region of Russia. They were not only one of the first varieties to produce but produced fruit well into November (in Oregon and in California) and proved resistant to frost. Sunset's Red Horizon has also proved resistant to blossom end rot and cracking. Sunset's Red Horizon is a splendid producer of very delicious fruit with huge, old-fashioned tomatoey flavors.

Seeds were obtained from Nik Peplenov by Kelley Spurling in Scotland, who called the variety Rostova. Gary Ibsen received seeds and permission from Kelley Spurling to rename this variety Sunset's Red Horizon, in gratitude to Sunset magazine for their gardening support of their readers, and because this tomato was so well suited to growing in the western United States. This wonderful, big, tomato variety was introduced by TomatoFest to home gardeners as Sunset's Red Horizon.

Mojave Bob, that's an interesting looking bi-color... I just took this pic a few hours ago, Cherokee Bi-Color, it's parents were Cherokee Green and "a yellow" in Carolyn's book:

{{gwi:1382248}}

It generally was a beefsteak shape but picked this at location #2, in the 'burbs, and quite heart shaped. I would probably LMAO if it had gotten crossed with Carolyn's crossed Kellogg's Breakfast Heart last season!

Also unusual about this one is that the red streaks appear to be at the top, NOT bottom! This is the first ripe one so will have to wait & see if this continues.

And did someone mention Kosovo? It's a very nice pink heart:

{{gwi:1382249}}

This wonderful, big, tomato variety was introduced by TomatoFest to home gardeners as Sunset's Red Horizon.

*****

Joachim, the problem is that Rostova is NOT a heart shaped variety. As originally offered by Seedfest it was and should be a large red beefsteak and for the first couple of years Gary offered it it was correct, but then something happened with seed production and what's been offered since has been this wrong heart one.

TGS is offering it as a heart, which is wrong, and I sent the last of my true Rostova seeds to linda at TGS so she'd have the right one.

There's post after post here and elsewhere with folks talking about this heart Rostova but again, that's not what Rostova should be.

Kelly kept saying they were going to go back and capture it again, but that was several years ago and nothing has appeared.

Carolyn

What, no one grows VOO? Verna's Orange Oxheart? It is consistently among my earliest tomatoes, succulent, meaty, kind of a tropical fruity taste. Sochulak has been yielding too, variable in shape and sometimes approaching a heart. One I call Pink PL Heart has ripened too, I probably like VOO better, and another similar pink called Large Italian Plum Pink, which has a heart shape. I'm waiting on Kosovo to compare, and Ukraine Heart.

Gary offered it it was correct, but then something happened with seed production and what's been offered since has been this wrong heart one.
****

Interesting Carolyn. I never grew the original Rostova but have become a big fan of Ibsen's Sunset's Red Horizon. Every year I am truly amazed how this plant keeps producing a heavy load of large tomatoes right up to early frost. The taste might not be considered best of best but it tastes pretty good and the texture is also great. It is unfortunate that so many great heirloom varieties have been lost. Just shows you that we should have always saved seeds.

Bobbie

Damon said:

• "texture- most hearts have a meaty texture, so any of the ones mentioned will do, this is one of the main reasons I love hearts so much "

I agree wholeheartedly. The dense tender meaty texture with little messy jelly and seed is what sets hearts apart. My 84 year old Italian uncle from New Jersey shared the Bobbie with me and said, "Damn, that's what a tomato is supposed to taste like. I nearly had forgotten."

I have little doubt many of the tomatoes in this thread are better than Bobbies. I strongly doubt many beefsteak types are though. Twice I've compared it to two Brandywines and Cherokee Purple in the same display, and twice it was my favorite. They're all really good but the texture is the deal maker.

Those of you awaiting Bobbie seeds, I haven't forgotten. I'm germination testing about 20 varieties right now and will send seed soon as I have results.

My 84 year old Italian uncle from New Jersey shared the Bobbie with me and said, "Damn, that's what a tomato is supposed to taste like. I nearly had forgotten."

*****

I was doing some background checking and find that I think the original source for Bobbie might well be Jeff Dawson in CA, at least that's where Marianne Jones, who lists it in the 2009 SSE Yearbook got her seeds.

It makes sense that Tomtofest would list it since Gary lists several of Jeff's varieties. But Gary gives no background at all and nor does Marianne other than saying that Jeff was her seed source, so how do I tie this up with your Uncle? ( smile)

Carolyn

Bump .

I will come back to this. I have to do some reading.

Sey

This is a vintage thread but it is of some interest to me, maybe to others.

Recently , I started a thread , aimed at trying to narrow down IDing one of the varieties that I am growing. See picture below.

As you can see it has a heart-like shape/profile.What makes it to be classified as "HEART variety" Is a very slight protrusion of the blossom end. The rest of it is just like a lot of pleated beefsteaks.

The closest to it has been suggested (by PC) to be cuore de boeuf d'antan. I have searched the net intensively and have not been to narrow it down further. Actually mine has some resemblance to German Giant and German Red Strawberry..

The reason I do not know the name of this variety is because I took the seeds from a store bought heirloom tomato few years ago.

Today or tomorrow I might pick one with some color and take more pictures.

Sey