What is a Heirloom tomato plant?

Tomato history 101: Historians have the tomato plant originating from Peru, South America and then spreading to Mexico and Europe by Spanish merchants. Ironically, the tomato plant was imported into Canada and USA by European Immigrants and not by way of Mexico. 

The Heirloom: Prior to the mid-1800's, seeds were collected and exchanged by families and handed down through generations. It was an annual event with farmers collecting and drying seeds for next year's crop. Generally speaking, the seeds produced tomatoes of the same size, colour and taste. We call these open pollinated varieties because the seed can be saved year to year.  Many of these open pollinated types are called heirlooms or heritage because they are steeped in tomato history. One example is the heirloom Purple Cherokee passed down from the Cherokee Indians and yes, it is purplish red in colour. 

Heirloom varieties do come with some drawbacks as they can be more susceptible to disease, irregular in size and shape and may not be the perfect looking tomato as they ripen unevenly. However, heirlooms are noted for having great texture and a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. Today, gardeners are stepping outside the tomato box and trying different varieties so you see more Heirloom varieties in garden centres. As we know many grocery shoppers tend to pick the best looking tomatoes but that does not equate to a good tasting tomato. Last week I bought great looking hot house tomatoes (Mexico) at the grocery store and they tasted like red corrugated cardboard at best! What was I thinking! 

The Hybrid: During mid to late 1800's seed companies arrived and started to sell seeds, one of them being Stokes Seeds, established in 1881. For the next 70 years or so, seed companies sold open pollinated varieties until Burpee's Seeds introduced the first hybrid tomato in 1949 called Burpee's Big Boy. This breeding technique resulted in a new generation of hybrid plants. A hybrid is created when the pollen of one plant is applied to the pistil (yes) of another plant which results in a new tomato variety from the two parents. The new hybrid plant then has the dominant traits of the parent plants. Plants bred this way tend to be stronger, are less susceptible to disease, produce tomatoes of similar size, good tasting and look great!  However, gardeners cannot save hybrids seeds year-to-year because the offspring would be unpredictable.

In closing: Some heirlooms like the Heirloom Brandywine have potato leaf foliage while the Hybrid Ultra Boy bears the regular tomato leaf shape. This is possible because they both belong to the solanaceae plant family. You may also see plants at your garden centre that have potato roots grafted to a tomato stem a plant that produces tomatoes and potatoes on the same plant.  Weird, eh? But true. A topic for another day. Garden on, my friend.