Heinz 2653 Paste Tomato

An older open-pollinated variety. At one point the standard commercial variety for making a certain brand of ketchup. Now quite rare. We tried this OP Heinz bred variety because it is a determinate paste tomato and very early maturing – and it was a garden standout! An excellent choice for gardeners with shorter or cooler seasons that have trouble getting big yields of other paste tomatoes for canning. Also a good choice for areas susceptible to late blight as it sets fruit and ripens so quickly. Fruits are smaller than other paste tomatoes, with a distinctive roma-like shape and very little juice. It’s reliability to produce abundantly in any given growing season makes it very worthwhile to grow in our maritime climate. We’ve even gotten decent harvests from volunteer seedlings in our garden. Determinate.