Hungarian Heart: Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2007

I bought this seed because I had just never grown an oxheart tomato. These big beefy tomatoes get lots of rave reviews and I thought it was time I tried one.

The description from the company I bought it from reads:

Oxheart tomatoes have been popular for generations because of their excellently flavored, meaty, large tomatoes that provide lots of solid good eating with very few seeds. The fruit of Hungarian Heart follows suit, with large, pink heart-shaped tomatoes that become 1 lb. and are just luscious. As a bonus, these plants are not shy bearers, but rather quite productive for an oxheart type. Hungarian heirloom. Indeterminate. 70 days

The Beauty Pageant:

Size: Anywhere from a pound to a half pound.

Shape: Very much like a mammal heart. It is a little creepy. One interesting note is that these tomatoes seem prone to fasciation. I had three tomatoes come off this plant that were actually two tomatoes fused together

The inside: Very meaty. Medium walls but very thick cores. There is two chambers (on a normal one) with some seeds. The seeds are large. The gel is pretty tight.

Texture: A soft mealy texture.

Tasting:

Off the Vine Tasting: Tangy and tomatoey. The gel is much tangier than the meat.

Sliced and Salted Tasting: Salt just rocks this tomato. I was not all that thrilled with the taste but adding salt makes this a darn good tomato.

Cooking Thoughts: I am thinking that this would be best for sauce because you could salt it and take advantage of that turn up of the tomato volume.

Growing Notes:
Good size plant. It is prolific but the fasciation even just the lumpy general shape of the tomato causes some problems. The little nooks and crannies seem to be convenient little hiding places for bugs and spider egg sacs. Healthy plant other than that.

Will Hanna grow this one again:
Maybe. While salted it is pretty good, for a tomato this size, I would prefer a beefsteak. Of course this is just my first oxheart tomato. There may be even better ones out there.