If you’ve ever thought to yourself that the tomatoes from the grocery store aren’t as good as they used to be, you might be onto something. Many of the fruits and veggies from the supermarket were bred to be long lasting and easy to grow, not for ultimate flavor. If you want the most flavorful tomatoes then growing them yourself is often the best option, yet many of us haven’t tasted homegrown tomatoes in years.
When you have your own garden you can pick them directly from the vine instead of buying tomatoes that were picked while green and then ripened on a truck or in a warehouse. And, the heirloom varieties of tomatoes truly deliver flavor that commercial breeds simply cannot.
It might seem like it’s hard to find these varietals, but heirloom seeds are becoming even easier to source today than ever. So, here are 7 types of heirloom tomatoes that you can easily find in many garden and home stores. Failing that, there’s always the internet for buying seeds, too.
7) Amish Paste Tomato
This variety is said to have been grown by the Amish of Wisconsin (the 4th most state in terms of Amish populations) and was crafted in the 1800s. It an ideal specimen for making tomato paste and canned tomatoes.
Many of the heirloom varieties came from European immigrants bringing their seeds with them abroad, having been cultivated to suit local tastes and climates. The results are a huge array of tomatoes that were grown before grocery stores changed everything.
6) Brandywine
Before supermarket weekly ads, seed companies printed these exuberant full-color advertisements for their seeds. Just look at this fun one from 1890.
The brandywine tomato has a slightly creamy taste and can grow up to 2 pounds big and comes in many colors.
5) Great White
This low-acid tomato has a pale yellow color, bur also comes with an unusual tropical fruit flavor that has notes of melon or quava. This beefsteak variant can grow up to 2 pounds per fruit.
4) Cherokee Purple
This darker tomato can be appear as red bleeding into green or as an almost-solid purplish hue. These tomatoes offer tons of flavor and are wonderful when eaten fresh off the vine, sliced, and sprinkled with a little salt.
3) Mr. Stripey
Striped, bumpy, and very sweet, this multicolored fruit is unlike other types of tomatoes you may have encountered previously. While many people think they are beautiful, they don’t have the mass appeal of those smooth tomatoes from the store.
2) Bonny Best
Some varieties of this tomato were advertised to yield up to 15 pounds of fruit per plant. They are tart, smooth, bright red, and good for canning.
1) Yellow Plum
The good, old, yellow plum tomato is among the heirloom varieties. It’s wonderful in salads and is spectacular when made into a tomato basil soup. The complex flavor is a little oily and very pleasing. Plus, they’re great for snacking on with their small size, too.
