These two varieties make very large tomatoes that are especially great for slicing. Both have been around for I'd guess maybe 60 or more years. If you've never planted one or both, you might want to give them a try next spring.

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Posted by Longer Tail Tiger

Member since Dec 2019

322 posts

Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:25 pm to Longer Tail Tiger

The Brimmer tomato is easily the largest tomato I've ever seen and eaten. It's a purplish colored variety and very flavorful. The Oxheart is red, an excellently flavored tomato as well, and large; but it isn't even close to being as large as the Brimmer.

One of my father's first cousin's is the only person I ever knew who grew the Brimmer. He was an outstanding vegetable gardener as was my father. All of us grew up on a farm. I was a small boy when I began planting, caring for, and harvesting vegetables in our garden.

My father passed away in the early 1970s, and his first cousin predeceased him by a good many years.

I can recall in the 1950s, my father's first cousin used to regularly give our family Brimmer tomatoes and other vegetables from his garden when he'd visit us. I doubt I was even a teenager at the time, since I was born in the midst of WW II.
I became acquainted with the Oxheart tomato when a neighbor gave us some. His were great and quite large, but not even close to being as large as the Brimmer.

I'm still active. I no longer make a vegetable garden of my own, but I provide advice and help hoe out weeds for a friend who makes a garden in the ground.

Here's a description of the Brimmer tomato for anyone unfamiliar with it:

"82 days.(Indeterminate) [This old Virginia variety won the Grand Prize for size and quality at the Jamestown Exposition held in 1907 at Sewell’s Point, VA.] Large, meaty, pink-purple fruits can reach 2½ lbs. or more when well grown. Often preferred by gardeners wanting large, “low acid” pink tomatoes that have a high sugar content. Thick skin - a useful quality in a canning tomato, and one that offers some protection against fruit worm." LINK

This post was edited on 6/11/23 at 12:25 pm

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