Here is another picture of another from the same plant variety.

thanks everyone!

Sorry but just as with all the other "name or ID this plant or fruit" posts here recently, unless you can narrow the possible choice down to 4 or 5 possibilities it is impossible to put a name on a plant or fruit. Can't do it even in person much less from a photo.

Of the 4000-5000 known varieties of tomatoes there are hundreds of each type that look just exactly alike.

All anyone can tell you is it is a paste variety with regular (vs. potato or rugose) leaves.

Dave

Thanks Dave!

That's more than the person who gave them to us was able to say.

They are unusual (at least to me) shaped so I hoped someone might know.

I would guess Opalka or Big Mama, but Dave is correct.
John A

There are at least a couple of hundred long red paste varieties listed in the SSE Yearbooks, for SSE members, so no way am I going to suggest what variety it might be and that inlcudes Opalka ,a variety I introduced,see Tania's page for it. ( smile)

Carolyn, who has grown her share of long red ones as well and it's almost impossible to tell one from the other.Sigh.

It looks like Cornue des Andes (Andes Horn), but may very likely be some other variety.

Gary

Thanks for any input from everyone.

Total newbie question, what is the SSE yearbook and where can I find it?

Seed Savers Exchange. Just go to their website. Membership required to get the book.

Dave

The also have a public catalog of many heirloom and open pollinated varieties, not just tomatoes but everything from arugula to beans, carrots, garlic, melons, potatoes, salsify, zinnias and much more.

Betsy

It looks like a Federle. I grow these every year. One of my favorites. Great flavor and very few seeds.

Again, no way to know the exact variety since as I said above there are over a hundred varieties of long red pastes and almost all of them look alike.

I haven't been able to access this site for several days now, I won't go into the details, but this AM all seems to be OK, and I think it had something to do with the site since I had access to every other site I participate at.

Carolyn

Sounds like this is one of those hotbed issues on this site! Like "what's the best___" or "does___ have good flavor?"

Been so long since I posted here but as the solonums roll in by the wheelbarrow load so does some time suddenly!

The pictures got me. This type of tomato is one of my absolute favorites and I thought there was one more thing to add here, at least. And that is: DON'T OVERWATER! These tomato varieties have a "weep" gene in them so often growers think they need water because they are wilty.

They also often get blossom-end rot on a fruit-to-fruit basis (usually with early fruit) but don't pull the plant, they usually don't keep that up. It comes from lack of calcium up-take in the plant. A small handful of steamed bone-meal or fish bone-meal helps with this, scratched in around the plant's base.

I have grown many of these types of tomatoes including Hog's Heart, Jersey Devil, Striped Roman, Polish Linguisa and San Marzano Redorta. I highly recommend these last 2 especially who have really pumped out the fruit. My Farmer's Market customers love the plants also.

Tomato sauce for 2: chop 2 or 3 of these tomatoes, cook for 7 minutes or so, and voila! Its meatiness and lack of juice make them perfect for cooking without the hot spring of juice pooling around them.

Happy canning! Or roasting, cooling and filling ziplocks for the freezer!
Vine

Wow! Thanks for much for the advice Vine.

I've been excited because this was a real treat as a first-year gardener. I never thought the plants would grow let alone develop such an interesting looking fruit.

Also, thanks for everyone explaining SSE. I get why it's difficult to narrow down which variety it is, but, all of the responses have been immensely helpful as the original grower said he just threw in some seeds and forgot about what's what. Whomp, whomp.

Thank goodness these are growing in the ground so I've been very careful not to overwater and simply prune daily to keep on top of (potential) diseases.

I agree with Vine, I grow San Marzano Redorta and it looks just like it. I also just tried the oven roast method of sauce making with some of mine and I can say the flavor is just out of this world. Throw a sliced onion and a clove or two of garlic in the roasting pan and then just chop em up in a food processor after they are all roasted and soft for a perfect sauce.

CH