Azoychka: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2006

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2006

Azoychka TomatoAzoychka! Almost sounds like something you yell at a Russian wedding reception right before you toss back a shot of vodka and give the bride or groom a good long kiss.

As you might have guessed from the name, Azoychka is a Russian strain of tomatoes, so it is suppose to be a good cold weather performer.

It sure does have a great color. The vibrant yellow is consistent all the way to the center.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

One of the first to ripen in your garden, this lovely lemon yellow 7 to 8 ounce tomato has a delightful sweetness with just a touch of acidity. Ripening in only 70 days from planting out, it has a delightful yet subtle hint of citrus with a rich lingering flavor. This beguiling Russian heirloom has become a favorite of chefs and tomato lovers world wide.

The Beauty Pageant:
Azoychka Tomato Sliced

Size: Just a tad bigger than the palm of my hand.

Shape: This tomato is not a pretty tomato as far as the shape department goes. Twice as wide as it is tall, it comes across looking like a play-do pie done by a very proud kindergartener.

The inside: This tomato has many small chambers inside it. The walls are medium thickness, but the fact that there are so many walls makes this a pretty meaty tomato.

The seeds are average size. The gelatin is pretty tight in that the gelatin does a good job of keeping the seeds in place, but is rather wet, making the tomato juicer than you might expect.

Texture: Firm but very smooth. I really like the texture on this one.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: I was pleasantly surprised. Normally yellow tomatoes tend to lack acid and therefore the tang that I like in a tomato. It is not that way at all with this tomato. Very tangy, almost to the point of tasting like a mild lemon. The skin adds just a hint of sweetness at the end. Nice tangy aftertaste too.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: The salt tones down the nice tanginess the tomato has and eliminates the sweetness as well. I like it better without the salt, but it’s not bad with the salt.

Cooking Thoughts: I think I may have found a tomato for my raw tomato recipes. The texture is excellent, the color is just lovely and, most importantly, it tastes really good. Combine this with a good red tomato, and you have the makings for some striking looking and great tasting salsa and bruscettas. It also seems like it would be a good candidate for sauces.

Since it is a nice firm tomato, it should still keep a little chunkiness while cooking. The only fault I see with this tomato is the whole many chamber thing. This would be a hard tomato to de-seed. I personally don’t mind seeds in my sauces and tomato recipes, but I know some people do.

Growing Notes:
Seems to be growing well. This tomato turns color very quickly. Yesterday morning, this was a totally green tomato and today it was yellow and ripe. The plant is on the smaller side and was easily held up with a chinzy, bought it at Home Depot type tomato cage. But other than being small, it is healthy. As mentioned, this is a Russian variety, so it should keep producing even when the weather gets cold.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
Yes. I very much like this tomato. As I said, I was not expecting much from a yellow tomato and this one made me sit up and take notice. This is an excellent tomato and I will happily welcome it back into my garden in the future.

3 thoughts on “Azoychka: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2006
  1. Barry on

    My wife and I decided to grow our first tomato plants about 2 months ago, after reading your columns. We purchased some Black Prince and Azoychka seedlings, as well as a Beefsteak. Of course, the Beefsteak shot up like a weed, but the Black Prince is doing some catching up, too, with plenty of fruit in development. Alas, nothing from the Azoychka! Though it’s grown well enough, it’s had a few yellow leaves–no visible insects, and we are about 10 feet off the ground on the back porch. Plenty of flowers, but no fruit, at all. We’re giving them all plenty of water. Does the Azoychka simply prefer cooler times of year for growth? I can sympathize, if that’s the case. My wife thrives in 85 degree temperatures, while I begin to wilt a good 10 degrees lower.

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  3. Jihong on

    I grew Azoychka in container in 2009, they were good size plants, Yield was not high in comparison to other container tomatoes but taste was much better. Definitely I will grow Azoychka this year.

  4. Robert on

    We have had a hot, very dry summer in Connecticut. In mid-April (very early) I planted an Azoychka seedling purchased from a local garden center in a very large container filled with well composted soil and amended with dried blood, bone meal and TomatoTone. Throughout the summer I kept it well watered and fertilized with water from my aquarium and Algoflash fertilizer for tomatoes.

    In mid August, the plant is now about eight feet high and has had an abundance of huge, very tasty yellow-orange tomatoes.

    I will definitely plant this again next year if the seedling is available from the garden center.

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