We know we’re sticking our necks out a bit with this list. After all, the definition of a great tomato is subjective and depends on whether you like ‘em sweet or tart, large or small, herbal, acidic, or fruity, dry or dripping, seedy or “shy.”
Finding your favorites is an adventure in flavor, and with more than 3,000 varieties of heirlooms alone, you could spend your whole life searching for the perfect match.
So let us give you a running start with this list of favorite slicing tomatoes, perfect for sandwiches, Caprese salad, or eating over the sink with a saltshaker and pepper grinder close at hand.
Our Top Five Slicing Tomato Favorites
Pineapple tomato:
Pineapple is one of the largest, most beautiful tomatoes we sell, with red-marbled yellow flesh and balanced, sweet tomato flavor. This variety was developed by Metamora, Ohio, company Gleckler’s Seedman in the early 1950s, a family-owned company founded by Merlin W. Gleckler in 1947. Gleckler delighted in introducing new and rare varieties, particularly tomatoes, to American gardeners.
Abe Lincoln Original Tomato:
The Abe Lincoln Original tomato is an early 20th century heirloom named for the 16th president of the United States. Its classic flavor, deep crimson color, and rugged disease resistance make it a reliable favorite for organic gardeners.
Buckbee’s Seed catalog introduced the Abe Lincoln in 1923, calling it “the giant of all tomatoes.” Buckbee’s developed this variety on its Rockford, Ill. farm, and in its catalog, the company gushed of growing as many as nine tomatoes in a single cluster weighing seven pounds. Customers reported growing tomatoes that clocked in at three pounds each.
Buckbee’s went on to tout the Abe Lincoln tomato as an ideal variety for catsup, chili sauce, tomato juice, and slicing. The “very shy seeder,” as Buckbee’s called it, has firm and meaty flesh, and ripens all the way through despite its size.
William Woys Weaver, a founding father of the modern heirloom seed movement, praises the Abe Lincoln. He says this trusty tomato may have been lost to a frenzy of tomato development in the 1920s, when several new varieties were introduced around the same time as the one named for Illinois’ favorite son.
Weaver also explains that there are currently two strains of the Abe Lincoln tomato: the original that Buckbee’s introduced in 1923, and an earlier maturing variety introduced in the 1970s.
Diann Dirks, also known as the “Garden Lady of Georgia,” gave the original Abe Lincoln tomato seeds to Baker Creek. Diann is a seed saver and sharer with a background in permaculture.
Diann got the seeds when she struck up a conversation with an elderly man at a gas station one day. He assured her that they were the originals from the 1920s, not the newfangled variety from 50 years later.
We are grateful to Diann for sharing and helping to reintroduce this gargantuan old-timey tomato.
The history of heirloom seeds is rich with stories of eccentrics, dreamers, and big-hearted humans, and Dr. John Wyche is one.
Wyche spent his career as a dentist in Hugo, Oklahoma. He was a savvy businessman, humanitarian, and seed saver who in his lifetime gave away thousands of seeds and answered hundreds of letters about gardening each year. Wyche retired to a retreat he built in the Kiamichi Mountains, carefully terracing the rocky slopes and fertilizing his gardens with the droppings of overwintering or retired circus animals (Hugo is the home of several traveling circuses, as well as a refuge for retired circus elephants; Wyche was an investor in the Carson & Barnes Circus.)
Wyche’s father was a member of the Cherokee nation, said his daughter, Joan Wyche Eighmy, and Wyche was proud to claim his family heritage. He was also instrumental in preserving the Cherokee Trail of Tears pole bean, which he shared with Seed Savers Exchange in the 1970s.
When Wyche was growing the seeds of this big, beautiful tomato, it was called “Hot Yellow.” Before he died in 1985, Wyche sent seeds to heirloom gardener John D. Green, who in turn shared them with fellow tomato enthusiast Craig LeHoullier in 1992.
At the time, LeHoullier said, he was new to Seed Savers Exchange and felt “like a kid in a candy shop.”
LeHoullier named it for Wyche and offered it through Seed Savers Exchange.
“It’s a testament to how each variety can be special," LeHoullier said. "As many tomatoes as there are, each one of them holds a special story or holds a special place in someone’s heart.”
We highly recommend this beautiful yellow-orange tomato not just for its story, but for its incredible sweet, fruity, and complex tomato flavor, size, and wonderful productivity.
Cherokee Purple:
Award-winning flavor and a mysterious origin story make Cherokee Purple an iconic heirloom tomato.
Heirloom tomato collectors Craig LeHoullier, and John D. Green of Sevierville, Tenn., also helped preserve the Cherokee Purple. In the 1990s, Green sent LeHoullier a packet of tomato seeds. In a brief note enclosed with the seeds, Green wrote that it was a very good tomato.
“The only thing we know is that they have been in their family about 100 years and were gotten from the Cherokee Indians,” Green wrote to LeHoullier.
While its origin story as an indigenous variety has never been verified, it would not have been out of the question, scholars say.
LeHoullier planted the mystery seeds and found the tomatoes were juicy and flavorful and the flesh a dramatic marbled purple color. He championed the variety, and lucky for us – a homegrown, perfectly ripened Cherokee Purple has an incomparable balanced tomato flavor with a hint of smokiness, for an eating experience that will stay with you forever.
Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato:
As its name implies Aunt Ruby’s German Green is an emerald-colored family heirloom from Germany, named for Ruby Fair Arnold, who stewarded her family’s heirloom tomato for generations in Greenville, Tennessee. It is one of the largest green beefsteaks and can grow to over one pound each.
According to Seed Savers Exchange, tomato collector Bill Minkey acquired some of the seeds from Juanita Holfstrom, Ruby Fair Arnold’s niece, in the early 1990s, and he eventually sought permission to rename the variety in Ruby’s honor.
The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity includes Aunt Ruby’s German Green on its Ark of Taste, calling it “a sweet juicy tomato with a piquant bite,” and noting that it has the wetness of a melon and can give a deep flavor explosion.” Eat this one raw on sandwiches or salads or fry it for a flavor sensation!
Tips for Growing Slicing Tomatoes
- Days to maturity vary with the type of tomato you’re growing, but in general, the bigger beefsteak or slicing varieties take longer, often 85 days or more. This is obviously a challenge in northern, short-season climates, so starting seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost date is necessary.
- The plants get big, often growing to six feet or more, and the fruit can grow to a pound or more, so they require substantial support from trellising, cages, or stakes. At Baker Creek, we grow tomatoes on cattle panels (both indoors and outdoors), fastening the vines as they grow and planting the plants deeply to encourage strong roots.
- Amend your soil well with compost, aged manure, or other organic matter before planting.
- Mulch generously around the plants to conserve moisture and keep things cooler.
- Add gypsum to the soil preplant to avoid blossom end rot.
- Tomatoes love sun and need lots of it – six to 10 hours a day. But, in hot and/or very sunny locations, you’ll want to provide some shade to help reduce cracking.
- When planting large, indeterminate varieties, make sure to give the plants plenty of room. Plant them at least 18 inches apart so that they can get some air circulation and reduce the chance of disease.
- Proper soil pH is important for the best growth and production. Aim for soil pH between 6 and 6.8. There are a variety of at-home soil pH tests; or take some samples to your local Cooperative Extension office, and they’ll be glad to do it for you.
- Fertilize frequently and lightly to maintain good growth.
- Water consistently, even moisture is vital. Water at the bottom, never on the leaves. Drip irrigation is ideal if it is an option for you.
Consult our Tomatoes 101 blog post for all things tomato related!
About the Author
Michelle Johnson is a nationally award-winning writer and editor with more than two decades of experience in broadcast, print, and digital journalism. Her favorite job at Baker Creek is that of 'seed historian,' researching the stories of these historic varieties and the people and communities who have stewarded them.
