Zolotoe serdtse tomato

This year I grew a tomato called Zolotoe serdtse (золотое сердце), this roughly translates to something along the lines of golden heart, or heart of gold.  I am not entirely certain how to spell this in English, Zolotoe or Zolotoye or Zoloto, I have seen all these spellings used in different places. 

This is a semi determinate tomato variety, that produces very early in the season.  It produces shorter plants, perhaps two feet tall, with regular leaf that are slightly rugrose.  The plant itself looks quite weak compared to many other varieties.  Even though the plant looks weak, it is very productive.

Zolotoe serdtse - persimmon coloured fruits

Zolotoe serdtse is an old commercial variety from Russia, apparently it was bred by Agrifirm Ailita/Aelita.  

I grow a few heirloom Russian tomatoes.  I like old Russian varieties, and I like Russian commercial varieties, often they were bred to be useful rather than to look good.  Often Russian varieties tend to produce well under harsh conditions, and they tend to have a lot of flavour.  

I grow everything organically, so need my plants to have a high level of resistance to pests and diseases, the old Russian tomatoes often have high resistance to pests and disease.  

Zolotoye serdtse tomatoes

Unlike some heirlooms, Zolotoe serdtse doesn't crack.  It is a firmer tomato that does not bruise and seems to store for a remarkably long time.  Many tomatoes I grow cannot even be transported to work when ripe without damage as they are so soft, but this one holds well to transport as its flesh is firm and dense, yet it still stays remarkably tender.  I can't really explain this well.

This tomato has lovely uniform colour.  Unlike many heirlooms it does not have green shoulders.  My camera seemed to have a lot of trouble with the colour, most of the pictures looked too yellow.  

When I put a red tomato, an a yellow jar lid in the field of view the colour seemed to be a lot closer to real life, and stayed like this for a few photos.  In real life they look remarkably similar to persimmons. 

Zolotoe serdtse tomatoes

The fruit is remarkably uniform in colour, but not in size or shape.  Most fruits are about the size of a goose egg, but I realise most people would never have seen a goose egg so this comparison is not useful.  

Probably a more useful comparison would be to say the tomatoes are similar is colour and size to a small persimmon.  They weigh about 80-200 grams each, with most being towards the larger end of this scale.  They are quite beautiful, the colour is uniform throughout the entire fruit.  I really love the colour of these.  

The shape is not entirely uniform, most seemed round and a bit flattened.  This stops them rolling off my bench, while still being large enough and round enough that they are good for slicing.  I quite like the size and shape.  

Zolotoe serdtse fruit size

This year many of my tomato varieties did not produce any fruit, or produced very little fruit, but this one was an exception.  For me it was highly productive, the small plants were covered in loads of beautiful large fruit that looks like persimmons.  While I don't grow tomatoes for looks, these are really beautiful.  

Another thing I liked about Zolotoe serdtse is that it is very disease resistant.  I get a bit of late blight that affects tomatoes here, this variety showed no signs of disease.  I am told that they are cold resistant, and can survive light frosts with minimal damage.  I am also told that they can produce fruit under cold cloudy conditions that would prevent fruit set in most tomato varieties.  This is important to me as it means it will produce for me in cooler years.

In poor soils and with irregular watering, much like many larger tomatoes, it does suffer from blossom end rot.  While frustrating, this can be prevented by regular watering and growing in fertile soils.  Normally the top half of the fruit is unaffected, to the damage can be cut off and the top part still eaten.

Uniform colour the entire way through - my photos don't do justice

The fruit can be a little drier or more dense than most of the varieties I grow, making it great for cooking or for paste.  It also means it can be sliced onto sandwiches in the morning and the bread is not too soggy at lunch time.  I prefer tomatoes with a bit more seeds/gel than Zolotoe serdtse has, but after growing this one I can see the benefits of having a slightly drier tomato with fewer seeds.  

I have read the "medium sized orange golden fruits are superb, meaty and fully-flavoured unlike some other yellow tomatoes".  I agree, they are superb, and meaty, and have considerably more flavour than most yellow tomatoes.  I did find them to have a milder flavour than some tomato varieties I grow. 

They certainly have a richer flavour than anything I can get from the markets, and they taste better than a home grown 'roma'.  People often talk about home grown produce tasting better than store bought, then for some inexplicable reason they tend to plant and grow insipid varieties.  While not the most intensely flavoured tomato I grow, Zolotoe serdtse are probably tastier than most home grown tomatoes that people grow.  

Some of the tomatoes I grew this year

I saved seed from these and plan to grow them again.  They taste good, they produced early, they were very productive, and they look incredible.  

Zolotoe serdtse and Tommy Toe tomatoes