These antique, coppery-orange slicing tomatoes have charmed backyard tomato growers with their unique tone and wholesome taste. I started mine from seed and was delighted with the massive, earth-toned fruit. Here is my experience from beginning to delicious end with the heirloom Thorburns Terracotta tomato with pictures:
Thorburns Terra cotta Tomato
This was the surprise favorite of the season! My husband, who dislikes tomatoes, was eating these fresh.
A Fresh Taste from the 1890’s
I love that these tomatoes are a true antique heirloom variety from 1893. They may have once grown in my great-grandparent’s vegetable gardens.
Truly Unique Color
This tomato is unusual. It is not vibrant orange, nor is it a common shade of tomato red-orange. It appears to carry a mix of orange and green tomato genes that produces a hue shockingly similar to terra cotta flower pots. If you pick all your ripe tomatoes at once, Thorburns Terracotta is going to stand out in the basket because no other variety looks like it!
How is the Taste?
It has the slight sweetness of an orange tomato with a subtle undertone flavor that has the lightest touch of smokiness. It gives the flavor profile a lot of depth and body. (As a side note, I don’t care for smoky flavored tomatoes so please don’t think this is one. It has a really unique, earthy undertone along with the subtle sweetness that simply has to be tasted!) Inside, the flesh is coppery with some hints of green and green-tinted gel around the seeds. Thorburns Terracotta is quite unique and unlike anything else we have grown.
Thorburns Terra cotta Size
This is a “normal” sized slicing tomato with a beefsteak like shape. Fruits are generally around 3 inches wide and weigh 5 to 7 ounces.
Farmer’s Market Potential
These fist-size fruits have a unique enough look that I think they have definite farmer’s market potential. Unfortunately they are prone to cracking easily, doing so with just one day of rain. They may need green house or grow tunnel care with careful, even watering to produce visually perfect fruit.
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Would I Grow Thorburns Terra cotta Again?
It’s already on the must-grow list for next year! We saved seeds and plan to use this in next year’s batches of our sweet garden tomato sauce. My hubby even wants some for fresh sandwich slices, so it looks like we’re going to need multiple plants of this variety!
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All Our Heirloom Tomato Reviews
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