Brandywine (tomato)
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Brandywine tomatoes are an heirloom cultivar of the species, related to the beefsteak.
[edit] Description
Brandywine tomatoes can bare fruit up to 1 lb (0.5 kg), requiring 80 to 100 days to reach maturity, making it among the slowest maturing varieties of common tomato cultivars. The Brandywine has been described as having a "great tomatoey flavor"[1], leading to heavy usage despite the original cultivar's relatively low yield per plant. Its fruit has the beefsteak shape and pinkish flesh, as opposed to the deep red of more common store bought varieties. Even when fully ripe the tomato can have green shoulders, near the stem.
[edit] Etymology
There is much question as to the origin of the Brandywine cultivar. Burpee reports carrying it in their catalogue as early as 1886, and references to it older than that[1]. It is reputed to have been developed by the Amish, though there is no evidence of this and may simply be a result of 19th Century marketing.
It reached modern popularity after being introduced via the Seed Savers Exchange in 1982 by an elderly Ohio gardener named Ben Quisenberry. He received the variety from a woman named Dorris Sudduth Hill who could trace the Brandywine in her family for over 80 years. The Brandywine has become one of the most popular home garden cultivars in the United States.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Plant of the Week: Brandywine Tomato. Retrieved on April 9, 2007.
