While I love many tomatoes – I’ve grown over 100 varieties on my Seattle city lot in a season – heart-shaped tomatoes hold a special spot in my affections. They were a mindblower for me when I discovered them about eight years ago, and when I am looking for a larger tomato, they remain my first choice.
Do you know about heart-shaped tomatoes? They are called “oxhearts” because they resemble a bull’s heart. Your farmer’s market may carry the most well-known one, the French heirloom called ‘Coeur de Boeuf’ in French, which translates to “heart of an ox”. But there are many more you need to meet.
Oxhearts’ twin superpowers are intense flavor and versatility. They can be used for slicing or sauce but offer richer flavor than standard paste varieties like ‘Roma’ tomatoes, according to tomato expert Craig Lehoullier, author of “Epic Tomatoes”. You can find oxhearts in red, but more often pink, and sometimes orange, yellow and even white.
Heart-shaped tomatoes look quite different from a traditional slicer like ‘Big Beef’.
Oxhearts exhibit extreme diversity in size and shape – even on a single bush. Your plant may yield any combination of wonderfully irregular, sometimes heavily pendulous shapes.
They may be smooth or ribbed, typically weighing from two or three ounces to up to three pounds, like Hudson Valley Seeds ‘Upstate Oxheart’.
The biggest I’ve heard about is ‘Livingston’s Giant Oxheart’. A 1933 Livingston catalog listing posted on Victoryseeds.com says that three pounds is typical, but one customer grew a five-pounder and sent it in as proof.
Many display a pointy tip that helps form an emoji-worthy heart.
Don’t panic about the foliage
Oxhearts also tend to have unusually lacy foliage that twists and drapes downward, causing many a first-time grower to despair that their plants are wilting – even yanking them before they have a chance to deliver their delicious fruit.
Despite their fragile appearance, these indeterminate vines are quite vigorous. The recessive gene that creates this wispy foliage, the “wilty” gene is linked to many heart- and plum-shaped tomato varieties. Now appreciating their drapey frills as a baseline, I find them quite lovely.
We’re here for the taste
But the fruit is the main attraction. Heart-shaped tomatoes are known for a sweet taste, with a juicy interior and a velvety texture.
What hooked me was my first taste of ‘Anna Russian,’ a pink-fruited heirloom introduced to market by Craig Lehoullier (https://www.craiglehoullier.com/)via an Oregon woman whose grandfather was given seeds by a Russian immigrant. (In “Epic Tomatoes,” ‘Anna Russian’ also tops Lehoullier’s list of “Tomatoes that Changed My Life” – and he’s grown thousands.)
A relatively early producer, the taste knocked my socks off – richly sweet while tempered with a depth of old-fashioned tomato flavor. Czechoslovakian heirloom ‘Marianna’s Peace,’ another pink, was likewise delicious. They made my personal “best of” list of tomatoes I grew in 2016, and after sharing them at a staff taste test, the nursery where I worked began selling them.
“What I love about heart shaped tomatoes is their versatility,” says Karen Olivier(@northerngardenercanada), who breeds open-pollinated heart-shaped tomatoes in a rainbow of colors from her home in British Columbia, Canada.
“They are rich and delicious fresh like a beefsteak, but they have few seeds and so are wonderful for sauces as well. Chefs love them because the slices are beautiful and hold together well without large seed pockets. The texture is very fruit- like. My hearts are often compared to ripe peach or mango in texture.”
Olivier’s True North label varieties, available through specialty seed sources, are adapted to shorter growing seasons and cool nights as well as hot summers – making them a natural for my garden.
Many of Olivier’s hearts are laced with marbling making them even more beautiful once sliced – ‘Midnight Sun’ is laced with red and yellow, and ‘True Colors’ yellow and green flesh pops against purple and pink. The striated effects are stunning on a plate.
I discovered Olivier’s ‘Taiga,’ ‘Midnight Sun,’ and ‘True Colors’ through a Seattle area Master Gardener sale led by Marcia Dillion, an avid collector of unusual varieties. They were all great performers that I’ve continued to grow. She also released ‘Tundra’ and ‘Chinook,’ with more in development.
Love at first bite
Seed purveyor Curtis Jackson, the “Curtis T. Maters” of Renaissance Farms (renaissancefarms.org), really loves oxhearts. Among rare tomato varieties he carries, oxhearts are his favorite family, he writes online. The website lists 92 oxhearts, including True North varieties. But it’s his No. 1 tomato which tells a story of love at first bite.
“It’s without a doubt the best tomato that I have ever tasted,” he writes. It tasted so good that it even inspired some garden larceny.
Jackson came across some beautiful oxheart tomatoes growing in a Pittsburgh, PA, garden and met the owner who described bringing the seeds from Russia and holding them closely since. While he generously offered seeds of other vegetables, he didn’t offer to share the tomato seeds. He did give Jackson a slice to taste. Jackson didn’t see any seed cavities, but upon tasting it thought he felt a seed.
And then:
“As I went around the corner, I used my tee-shirt to strain the contents in my mouth. There were two seeds. Growing them out the following Spring, only one plant made it. It was loaded with fruits! In 2010 I named them the variety ‘Curtis Cheek’ tomato. The rest is history!”
That’s commitment. At the risk of being complicit in this shenanigan, I grew ‘Curtis Cheek’ last summer in a cedar planter in my cement-walled driveway. Despite the challenges of the location, late planting, and a summer heat wave, it was in fact, extremely tasty. Thus my “must-grow list” inches longer – again. Here are a few to add to yours.
Some Great Oxheart Varieties:
Highlighted in this article:
- Anna Russian
- Marianna’s Peace
- Taiga
- Midnight Sun
- True Colors
- Tundra
- Chinook
- Curtis Cheek
- Coeur de Boeuf
In addition to the varieties above, some heirloom and new oxhearts to watch for include:
- ‘Orange 117,’
- ‘Anna Banana,’
- ‘Desdemona’s Heart,’
- ‘Hungarian Heart,’
- ‘Dwarf Purple Heart,’
- ‘Orange Strawberry,’
- ‘Yellow Oxheart,’ and
- ‘Reinhard Kraft’s Chocolate Heart’.
Which will you try?
