Pruden's Purple

Pruden's Purple tomato is an indeterminate 67-day variety producing 10-16 ounce fruit. Pruden's Purple is similar to Brandywine, from which it was developed. It has a similar smooth, buttery texture and taste. It is, however, an earlier tomato and one of the earliest beef-steak type tomatoes. Its large potato-leaf vine produces a lot of slightly flattened, slightly ribbed, blemish-free, purple-pink fruits with few seeds and excellent flavor. In our taste tests, it ranked as the best tasting tomato among the early varieties.

Marianna's Peace

Introduced by Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest, Marianna's Peace is an indeterminate 80-day tomato plant that produces 1-2 pound tomatoes. This late season, potato-leaf variety produces lower yields of larger tomatoes. Pink/red, beefsteak-styled fruit. Exceptionally rich flavor, good sweet/acid balance, luscious complex flavors. "Old fashioned" tomato flavor! Some consider Marianna's Peace to be the best tasting tomato in the world, even better than the world-renowned Brandywine Sudduth.

Mortgage Lifter

Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter is an indeterminate 75-day variety that produces 1-3+pound tomatoes! Large, slightly flattened, pink-red fruits are meaty, flavorful and have few seeds. This variety was developed by M.C. Byles, known as "Radiator Charlie" in the 1930's. Charlie was the owner of a radiator repair business located at the foot of a steep hill on which trucks would often overheat. With no formal education or plant breeding experience, he created this legendary tomato by cross-breeding four of the largest tomatoes he could find, developing a stable variety after six years of pollination and selection. He sold his tomato plants for $1 each (in the 1940's) and paid off the six thousand dollar mortgage on his house in six years. Gardeners drove up to 200 miles to by Charlie's seedling tomatoes, famous for their size and good flavor.

Sophie's Choice

Sophie's Choice is one of the earliest heirloom varieties around, as early as the earliest hybrids. It is a determinate heirloom variety. That means it stops growing after reaching a certain size, about 28" tall. But don't let it's size fool you. These are not cherry-tomatoes. This small plant produces an abundance of 6-12 ounce beef-steak style tomatoes, red-orange globes with deep red flesh. What's more, these tomatoes are much more flavorful than other extra-early varieties. It is considered to be the "best choice" for an extra-early heirloom tomato and an excellent choice for a patio-tomato plant.

Braddywine Sudduth

Brandywine (Sudduth strain) is a 75-day indeterminate variety producing 1-2 pound tomatoes. This famous heirloom has a luscious flavor and a buttery smooth texture. It is very rich, delicately spicy, and complex in flavor. It has deep pink skin and smooth, red flesh. It is a tomato against which all others are measured. It is proclaimed by many to be the best tasting tomato in the world.