Heirloom Tomato

Heirloom tomato

An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated, non-hybrid heirloom cultivar of tomato. They are classified as family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heirlooms, or created heirlooms. They usually have a shorter shelf life and are less disease resistant than hybrids. They are grown for various reasons: for food, historical interest, access to wider varieties, and by people who wish to save seeds from year to year, as well as for their taste.

Heirloom

In popular usage, an heirloom is something that has been passed down for generations through family members. Examples are a family Bible, antiques, weapons or jewellery.

Tomato

The tomato is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from western South America, and may have been domesticated there, in Mexico, or in Central America. The Spanish introduced tomatoes to Eurasia in the Columbian exchange in the 16th century.

Shades of red

Varieties of the color red may differ in hue, chroma, lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a red or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.

heirloom

Noun

1. A valued possession that has been passed down through the generations.
2. An old crop variety that has been passed down through generations of farmers by seed saving and cultivation, in contrast to modern cultivars used in large-scale agriculture.

tomato

Noun

1. A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.
2. The savory fruit of this plant, most often red when ripe, treated as a vegetable in horticulture and cooking.

Adjective

1. Of a shade of red, the colour of a ripe tomato.