Found this gorgeous organic heirloom in local whole foods. Which variaty is this? Mr Stripe? Yellow brandywine? Hillbilly?
by maxyuyue
12 Comments
Cali_Yogurtfriend624
Might be a small hybridized version of Kellogg’s Breakfast?
whatwedointheupdog
It’s a fake. Since the word “heirloom” doesn’t have an official legal designation, people have taken to calling any open pollinated variety an Heirloom because it sells (you see this everywhere). Commercial growers jumped on the Heirloom bandwagon and started breeding tomatoes that look like heirlooms instead of standard red slicers so they can charge more for them. Most true heirlooms would never be able to be grown and shipped commercially because they weren’t bred for things like high production, disease resistance or long shelf life. So what you have is just a modern variety created by a produce company, you won’t find seeds for it for sale because it’s proprietary. However it doesn’t mean they’re bad tomatoes and if you enjoy it, save seeds and they should produce true to the parent.
printerparty
I bet it’s Copia.
>The Copia tomato is an heirloom, indeterminate beefsteak variety (10-12+ oz) renowned for its striking yellow-red striped skin and sweet, juicy, marbled flesh. A stable cross between Green Zebra and Marvel Stripe, it was developed by Jeff Dawson and named for the former American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts in Napa.
Key Characteristics & Growing Tips: Flavor: Very sweet, fruity, and flavorful.
Appearance: Distinctive gold and red exterior stripes with yellow-red swirled flesh.
Usage: Excellent for slicing, salads, and sandwiches. Maturity: Approximately 80-85 days.
Growth: Indeterminate (requires staking/caging) with 3–5 foot vines.
CitrusBelt
So, if I had to guess.
Storebought “heirloom” striped/bicolor….not terribly colorful on the top half, but clearly striped on the bottom…and with a bit of blush inside, but not much…little bit ribbed, but not much….and (more importantly) seems to be very glossy?
My gut instinct would be Mr. Stripey, honestly.
There’s a few hundred others that it *could* be…but that’d be my bet, if I was the betting sort.
TheAngryCheeto
As I understand, any ‘heirloom’ tomato you see in a grocery store is most likely a proprietary hybrid variety that is meant to approximate the appearance and other characteristics of heirloom tomatoes. The problem is that trying to grow and sell actual heirloom tomato varieties for supermarket consumption would be a terrible idea. They crack, they split, they’re prone to disease, they’re generally not very productive and their shelf life isn’t great. So I stead, they grow hybrids that resemble heirlooms.
And in fact, a lot of commercial varieties meant for grocery stores have boring names like BHN 1045 F1.
GravityBright
Can’t tell for sure, since there’s a good few with that exact pattern. My money is on Pineapple, but it could be Hillbilly, Old German, or Lucky Cross.
elsielacie
The chance of it being an heirloom or open pollinated variety is lower than 50/50 from a grocery store imo.
Having said that, if you want to know because you are interested in growing it, you have everything you need to give it a shot already. Scoop out some seeds onto a paper towel and start them at the appropriate time. I’d probably plant out no more than two on the first try. If they grow true to what you purchased and both plants are the same, you have yourself seed stock. Keep saving seeds and name it whatever you like. If it doesn’t grow true you can keep growing out generations and picking your favorites and eventually you’ll land on a stable variety that is truly your own.
speppers69
If you Google what heirloom tomatoes does Whole Foods sell…you get…
Cherokee Purple, Marvel Stripe, Brandywine, Evergreen, Black Prince, Black Cherry, and Sungold.
So it’s obviously not Black Cherry, Sungold, Black Prince, Brandywine, Evergreen or Cherokee Purple.
That leaves Marvel Stripe.
Now if you go to the actual Whole Foods website…they list their selection as…
Orange Persimmon, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Marvel Stripe, Sweet 100, Sungold and Black Cherry.
It’s again not Brandywine Cherokee Purple, Sweet 100, Sungold or Black Cherry.
That would leave it as an Orange Persimmon…or Marvel Stripe.
PlantLady216
Echoing what others are saying about the likelihood of this being a true ‘heirloom’. I do think it is likely an organic hybrid, specifically bred to have some of those great heirloom characteristics.
My guess would be a variety like Ginfiz or similar.
Cali_Yogurtfriend624
Oh, that’s interesting.It might be a persimmon.
HighColdDesert
A commercial tomato with a commercial sticker like that is surely a hybrid, not an heirloom.
peteavelino
Harvest Moon maybe? I’ve grown GinFiz in the past and this looks kind of like it. There’s a new subsection of tomatoes called “hyloom”.
12 Comments
Might be a small hybridized version of Kellogg’s Breakfast?
It’s a fake. Since the word “heirloom” doesn’t have an official legal designation, people have taken to calling any open pollinated variety an Heirloom because it sells (you see this everywhere). Commercial growers jumped on the Heirloom bandwagon and started breeding tomatoes that look like heirlooms instead of standard red slicers so they can charge more for them. Most true heirlooms would never be able to be grown and shipped commercially because they weren’t bred for things like high production, disease resistance or long shelf life. So what you have is just a modern variety created by a produce company, you won’t find seeds for it for sale because it’s proprietary. However it doesn’t mean they’re bad tomatoes and if you enjoy it, save seeds and they should produce true to the parent.
I bet it’s Copia.
>The Copia tomato is an heirloom, indeterminate beefsteak variety (10-12+ oz) renowned for its striking yellow-red striped skin and sweet, juicy, marbled flesh. A stable cross between Green Zebra and Marvel Stripe, it was developed by Jeff Dawson and named for the former American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts in Napa.
Key Characteristics & Growing Tips:
Flavor: Very sweet, fruity, and flavorful.
Appearance: Distinctive gold and red exterior stripes with yellow-red swirled flesh.
Usage: Excellent for slicing, salads, and sandwiches.
Maturity: Approximately 80-85 days.
Growth: Indeterminate (requires staking/caging) with 3–5 foot vines.
So, if I had to guess.
Storebought “heirloom” striped/bicolor….not terribly colorful on the top half, but clearly striped on the bottom…and with a bit of blush inside, but not much…little bit ribbed, but not much….and (more importantly) seems to be very glossy?
My gut instinct would be Mr. Stripey, honestly.
There’s a few hundred others that it *could* be…but that’d be my bet, if I was the betting sort.
As I understand, any ‘heirloom’ tomato you see in a grocery store is most likely a proprietary hybrid variety that is meant to approximate the appearance and other characteristics of heirloom tomatoes. The problem is that trying to grow and sell actual heirloom tomato varieties for supermarket consumption would be a terrible idea. They crack, they split, they’re prone to disease, they’re generally not very productive and their shelf life isn’t great. So I stead, they grow hybrids that resemble heirlooms.
And in fact, a lot of commercial varieties meant for grocery stores have boring names like BHN 1045 F1.
Can’t tell for sure, since there’s a good few with that exact pattern. My money is on Pineapple, but it could be Hillbilly, Old German, or Lucky Cross.
The chance of it being an heirloom or open pollinated variety is lower than 50/50 from a grocery store imo.
Having said that, if you want to know because you are interested in growing it, you have everything you need to give it a shot already. Scoop out some seeds onto a paper towel and start them at the appropriate time. I’d probably plant out no more than two on the first try. If they grow true to what you purchased and both plants are the same, you have yourself seed stock. Keep saving seeds and name it whatever you like. If it doesn’t grow true you can keep growing out generations and picking your favorites and eventually you’ll land on a stable variety that is truly your own.
If you Google what heirloom tomatoes does Whole Foods sell…you get…
Cherokee Purple, Marvel Stripe, Brandywine, Evergreen, Black Prince, Black Cherry, and Sungold.
So it’s obviously not Black Cherry, Sungold, Black Prince, Brandywine, Evergreen or Cherokee Purple.
That leaves Marvel Stripe.
Now if you go to the actual Whole Foods website…they list their selection as…
Orange Persimmon, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Marvel Stripe, Sweet 100, Sungold and Black Cherry.
It’s again not Brandywine Cherokee Purple, Sweet 100, Sungold or Black Cherry.
That would leave it as an Orange Persimmon…or Marvel Stripe.
Echoing what others are saying about the likelihood of this being a true ‘heirloom’. I do think it is likely an organic hybrid, specifically bred to have some of those great heirloom characteristics.
My guess would be a variety like Ginfiz or similar.
Oh, that’s interesting.It might be a persimmon.
A commercial tomato with a commercial sticker like that is surely a hybrid, not an heirloom.
Harvest Moon maybe? I’ve grown GinFiz in the past and this looks kind of like it. There’s a new subsection of tomatoes called “hyloom”.