Hey antonaki

I started Thessaloniki two weeks ago and am more excited about this tomato than all the rest I have, due to its tough hide and very nice flavor according to claims. I hope to practice with it for fall to get it going in the better spring season. I think it is a good candidate for heat and won't crack in the rain, and will get nice gold freckles in strong sun .... and looks like round Christmas ornaments.

I consider it an heirloom, btw, although it was developed in 1957. The reason is because it was simply a selection and cross between an early and late season varieties also known by the name Thessaloniki at the time (early and late). Unfortunately I can't find the early variety (nor late) anywhere, as this mid season variety seems to have supplanted both.

The 1957 one we have is the one that proved to be a great selection is the "mid-season" cross and was very popular in the US around 40-50 years ago from what I recall when I tried to come up with a tomato that might do well and set fruit in the Florida heat, that was not one of the new "heat tolerant" tomatoes. Please share any pictures if you can.

Have you tried it in a Greek Salad? I canâÂÂt wait to make one with it with good Greek tomatoes instead of the really cellulose-reds I always seem to especially get in them (Greek salads are always coming out off a refrigerator that IâÂÂve had), so I canâÂÂt wait to use Thessaloniki good and fresh and put on some music on a cloudless day and dream of Thessaloniki.

The city the tomato is named after was named by Alexander the GreatâÂÂs father, for his sister. She, in turn was named after an alliance with Thessaly which brought him victory and consolidation of his Macedonian empire. Nike like the sneaker and rocket, was the Greek goddess of victory. Jason set sail from there to find the Golden Fleece and Zeus led the battle to establish the Olympian gods on those same fields, defeating the pre-Olympian Titans.

Stinygiasou, may Thalia (the youngest of the Greek Charities, and daughter of Zeus) grace your tomato harvest ;-)
PupillaCharites

This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 10:14

A couple of notes...
This tomato (Thessoloniki) is the absolute best for a horiotiki salata (Greek salad).. add some cucumbers, onions, oregano, lemon and olive oil and you will be dancing to the music!
BTW, I live in Santa Fe, NM, 7,000 feet. Short growing season. Risky to put in ground before May 15 to avoid any late freeze. But they will start producing within 60-70 days,and you will have a summer and fall of bliss.

Ah.... I thought you were somewhere far south in N.M., but it sounds like you live with the pinyon nuts up in the mountains. What threw me was the 9 in your description which I thought was USDA Zone 9, but I just looked at my map and see south NM is only Zone 8 anyway.

Any chance on any picture of a plant?

Horiotiki salata it will be thanks for your suggestion. No time to grow any oregano, by I think I can still get marjoram started in time, so if it works I can grow two parts and negotiate with the neighbor who has a lemon tree.

Thanks again for the ThN posting, it's great someone in the forum is excited about this one. I only have one seedling (of 3 seeds planted and it was healthy but a little slow ... just gave him his own own private CF bulb after reading your post ;-)

PC

Some of my thessolonikis along with some sweet 100s for comparison.

Here are some Thess. alongside some Sweet 100s for comparison.
Hey, I forgot the big slice of feta cheese for the salad makings!

Got one or two Super Sweet 100 seedlings and they are taking off right now, so I'll plant them beside the lone ThN if it works out, why not... Lots of rain here 5 days straight and looking at a 10 day forecast of all rainy days...Need to build the rest of the hoop house within a week on a dry day .... to expect anything much for fall.

Thanks for posting the pics of the plants, they don't look like they are aggressive growers which is what I wanted to know because I have a front and a back row when the Sun gets low.

"forgot the big slice of feta cheese for the salad"

And I was just figuring all along that with such great deep red, tasty round tomatoes, who needs the feta LOL.

PC

I gave a coworker some Thessoloniki seeds this year, and got some ripe tomatoes in return. I liked the flavor - it was more acidic than sweet. Definitely a firm tomato. Should hold up well in a salad. My coworker said it was the most productive tomato in his garden, out of 18 varieties. I'm thinking of giving it a go next year as my token workhorse variety.

You can't go wrong. As I said, I've been growing them for 10 years, and still at it.
Good luck.

Thanks for the good luck antonaki! This is my second time this seasom I make Thessaloniki horiotiki (Greek countryside salad) and I just want to say IMO Thessaloniki is more delicious than knock-off Druzba! Of all my frost damaged tomato plants, Thessaloniki tomato fruits weathered best and the flavor is just as good as the ones before the frost. Here's what was for lunch today and I thank you so much for additional inspiration! According to your suggestion I got some feta cheese ... this feta the original made from sheep milk in Limnotopos Kilkis, 40 miles from Thessaloniki City in the Greek Macedonian countryside...

{{gwi:2132177}}
{{gwi:2132178}}
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The vinegar in the picture was not used, it's just a prop, because the vinegar with the olives was the real thing ... red wine vinegar from Greece too ;-)

ÃÂñûὴ ÃÂÃÂÃÂ÷!
(Best luck! ... "kaleé teékhee" rhymes with Thessaloniki)

PC

This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Fri, Jan 23, 15 at 4:19

I had a terrible time with Thessloniki last year. Very few fruits, very small and bland. Now I'm wondering if I did something wrong, or if it just wasn't suited for my climate.

These posts make me very jealous!

I can't comment generally on the results like antonaki who has grown it a long time, but I can share what happened to me. The plant is a very metered production plant in cool weather for me. By that I mean it started out relatively slowly and stout like a sailor, then like clockwork, flowered in cycles like it really wanted to take off.

My problem is it got too cold, since I started it in mid-late August for reasonable growing conditions that ended this year in mid-November. For a variety famed for perfectly shaped tomatoes, you can see in my pic one of them was a double tomato, and on the plant there is one with lips, which supposedly is very rare to have deviations from globe. I would not consider this a large tomato, just a medium globe (5 - 6 oz tomatoes).

Overall my yield won't be as productive as I expected, but I only have one poor plant to judge. Had it been warmer the plant really showed potential and that is evident now as it is the healthiest of all my plants after they endured two or three season ending freezes in the last couple of months. I love the flavor and texture though. Just a note that it is probably more juicy for some people's tastes and does have many seeds. The skin in humid conditions was not tough as I expected it to be a little leathered (result: not).

It just has a great balance and most of all I like the aftertaste which is a clearly a bit sweet, maybe because I could leave it on the plant much longer than maybe I should. I think it is just a classically well-balanced tomato. I'm sorry you had bad luck. If you can slip in another plant to try again, I hope it works out well. This plant and fruit is very disease resistant for me and the tomatoes have a long hang time in part because of that.

PC

This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Fri, Jan 23, 15 at 15:11