![]() Stefanec is wild about the Black Vernissage tomato, and it’s easy to see why. ![]() The beauty of vegetables in the garden and on our plates counts for something, too. But finally, after many years, she can offer her customers the real thing this spring. A fragrant and meaty deep pink heart-shaped tomato that dates back to the 1880s, Stefanec says there are different strains floating around in seed-saving circles. But Stefanec, who offers seeds for more than 200 different tomato varieties, says she is excited to have finally been able to obtain pure seeds for the extremely rare true strain of Jefferson Giant tomato. I asked Stefanec if she has searched for the Holy Grail of heirloom tomato varieties and found it. By mid-August, a full crop of 453-gram tomatoes is ready for harvest, Stefanec says. “It’s surprisingly early - about 70 to 75 days,” she says. Stefanec says the Cosmonaut Volkov tomato is the most productive tomato she has ever grown and is a personal favourite for its complex and delicious tangy flavour. Available only recently at Heritage Harvest Seed, this old Ukrainian heirloom tomato was renamed in honour of a Soviet cosmonaut, Vladislav Volkov, who died while returning to Earth from the Salyut 1 space station. Take the Cosmonaut Volkov tomato, for example. Her fascination for the backstory of each seed variety she saves is palpable. The two-bite size of the Shimmer makes it perfect for serving with a charcuterie board. BurpeeĪ cocktail-type tomato with a plum shape, the Shimmer hybrid tomato is smaller than a Roma but bigger than a cherry. She’s too busy sourcing, collecting, growing, sampling and saving open-pollinated, non-hybrid, non-GMO and untreated seed varieties to preserve genetic diversity. Stefanec is one of those rare people who is unassuming and not given to self-promotion. Tanya Stefanec owns Heritage Harvest Seed, a mail-order seed company based in Carman, that specializes in rare and endangered heirloom varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs. In these lingering cold, dark days of winter, it’s the insane number of exciting seed varieties to choose from and the tantalizing prospect of fresh, delicious homegrown flavour that drives us to start planting. Of course, the do-good, feel-good phenomenon may not be your prime motivator for starting seeds. There is also the opportunity to share vegetable garden surplus with your local food bank. Many of us are looking for ways to spend less on food, as well as to waste less food. Alternatively, food insecurity results when there is reduced quality and variety of food or sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. Benefits include more healthy fibre in your diet and greater access to fresh food at a lower cost. ![]() People who grow their own fresh vegetables consume more vegetables. Starting your own vegetables from seeds is a great way to improve your family’s food security. This article was published (1536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Free Press 101: How we practise journalism.I will have to compare them with ‘Sungold’ to see which is the sweeter but already this one is a winner and it will be on the seed list next year. They really could be compared with raspberries etc and these are really great. The tomatoes are rather firm but boy do they taste sweet. Seed catalogues get quite excited about this one with taste descriptions mentioning various fruits. ‘Rosella’ is a widely available purple cherry and it has large, branching trusses with lots of small, pretty fruits. I wouldn’t write this off but it is not a favourite for taste. In addition the skin is very thick and has a taste of its own. The soft flesh is rather mealy and not that tasty. This was given as a free packet by Baker Hill and their website has various reviews of it. ‘Black Vernissage’ is a new one on me but it has grown very well and has produced lots of the golf-ball sized dark fruits striped with green. The taste is quite rich and although at first it is rather mild and watery it develops in the mouth with a nice acidity at the end. The one in the photo weighs 350gm and that is a good average among the larger fruits. ‘Black Russian’ is a great variety with good crops of large fruits that just look beautiful. In general I like purple/black tomatoes and not just because they look so beautiful. A collection of ‘black’ ish toms including big ‘Black Russian’, ‘Black Vernissage’ (with stripes) and ‘Rosella’
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