Hungarian Heart Tomato
Item Details
This family heirloom was brought to the United States in 1901 by John Simon, a winemaker from Gyor, Hungary, near Budapest. His son, Ed Simon, grew the tomatoes in Pennsylvania and shared them with the Seed Savers Exchange community in 1988. The potato-leaf plants produce huge, pink oxheart fruits that weigh upwards of one pound, have very few seeds, and show almost no cracking. This variety is one of our favorites for fresh eating, canning, and making roasted tomato sauce.
- 85 days from transplant
- Conventional
- Indeterminate - Fruit ripens throughout the season
- Very few seeds
- Pink fruits grow up to 1 pound
- Resistant to cracking
- Great for fresh eating, canning, and for making roasted tomato sauce
This variety works for:
- Fresh eating
- Sauce
- Paste
- Roasting
- Canning
Store your tomatoes at room temperature. The flavor and texture of tomatoes suffer when the fruit is chilled.
Heirloom tomatoes are bred for their flavor and simple preparation best allows that intense flavor to shine through. Tomatoes can be sliced and drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper, or layer slices with basil and mozzarella for a Caprese salad.
Roasted tomatoes have a richer, concentrated flavor.
There are hundreds of salsa recipes to try and most are dramatically improved with the use of heirloom tomatoes. Tomatoes are also the main ingredient in Gazpacho, a cold soup that is perfect for summer.
Growing Instructions
Instructions - Sow seeds indoors ¼" deep. Tomatoes are sensitive to freezing temperatures, so wait to transplant outdoors until the soil is warm. Plant in full sun.
- Start Indoors: 6 weeks before last frost
- Germination: 7-14 Days
- Plant Outdoors: 24-36” Apart
- Support: Cage, stake, or trellis
Ratings & Reviews
5 reviews
Yum
by EAG
Mild but flavorful, meaty - an excellent slicer for all fresh uses. Rivals a beefsteak in size. Not at all watery. A great cooking tomato. Easy to grow. Tolerant of weather. Freeze them whole for fresh tomato taste all winter. If you make Hungarian food, this is the tomato you want to grow.
meaty and deliciously flavorful
by Micheál OhEochaidh
Hands down, THEEEEE very best tomato I've ever eaten in a Caprese salad, and I only eat good organic heirloom tomatoes, so it has had competition for "the title."
Great tasting tomato with tendency to develop BER
by ROSSITZA
The best tasting heirloom tomato I grew this year (and I grew 8 different varieties). The fruit is enormous, the plants vigorous. One thing I noticed--unlike the rest of the tomatoes, this one was very prone to blossom-end rot even though I had amended the soil. Added garden lime in the beginning of the season and it fixed the problem, but as the plants grew taller and produced new fruit they again got BER.
Great dual purpose tomato for both slicing & paste!
by Beegotten Farm
Such a vigorous grower! I noticed no blossom end rot, and very little cracking. They were very productive. I estimate I harvested 10-15 pounds per plant.
After this season, these are my new favorite full-size tomatoes, as they were equally useful as a slicing tomato and as a paste tomato. Great texture and flavor, and some fruits weighed up to 2 pounds without becoming mealy or watery.
Meh
by Amy
These were fun to grow, but honestly my family was disappointed with the flavor - lack of, actually. Really big, beautiful tomatoes but unfortunately pretty bland.