First Wave of Black Prince Tomatoes

I have no idea of what week I'm in, but I got to see my garden in the daylight for the first time in a week & came out to a cool surprise ...... my first Black Russian heirlooms are ready.

As far as first observations ..

- They are a small to medium variety, slightly pear shaped, thin skinned and very meaty

- Typically heirloom .... I saw the full range of disease/afflictions/mung, but nothing they are particularly susceptible to

- Fruit is very susceptible to concentric cracking as they ripen, so pick early

- "Ripe" is a little different for these "blacks". You need to pick them when the upper half is dark, but still shows traces of green on the shoulders. If you wait for the traditional "vine ripe" look before picking, you may end up with over-ripe fruit

- First tier fruit is 3-5oz, but a couple were actually big enough to be slicers

- Meat is darker and fruit has low seed count.

- Taste is not as smokey/salty as Black Krim, but there is a hint of it.


Overall, I'd say this is a really good paste/sauce tomato.

I've still got 40+ going on the vines, so we'll see how the other come out.

Here are some pictures (I had to grab some of them a little green, since I'm not home on a predictable basis these days);

Gwynn

Oh! so that is what they look like.

I planted a specimen of these last year. It was a very productive plant in Washington State but this is what I had by August 18 2010 in the cold, wet PNW.

They were unaffiliated by any kind of disease or critter... .but then again they were unaffiliated with any spectrum of color outside of green.

Deborah ...feeling the Florida heat and sharing your tomato joy!!