True Black Brandywine Tomato

Sturdy plants produce very large fruit, with solid, dense flesh. Will produce a good amount of fruit that seems early for large heirlooms and will continue until frost. I did not have any disease problems. Strong staking is needed. The fruit can over heat in direct afternoon sun. They do not seem to crack or split even when over 1.5 lbs. Keep evenly moist for biggest fruit. We love the true big tomato taste, they are our favorite tomato for home made Bruschetta

The size, the excellent taste and the amount of tomatoes we ate...a whole troup of our guest were amazed with this one!!!!

This was my first year growing True Black Brandywine. I was a little too aggressive with pruning and sadly about half of the fruit got sunburned! So be careful in that regard, the fruits are delicate! Because of that, our yield from this large, lovely plant was much much smaller than it should/could have been. The fruits that were in tact were beautiful and added a lovely variety to our summertime tomato dishes. We had a tomato-tasting to compare all the different varieties we grew this year and True Black Brandywine are low-acid, mild-flavored tomatoes with lovely meaty flesh that was very smooth. Their dark color comes through in the flavor as an almost smoky or wine-like flavor. They are different from other tomato varieties I've grown. Sadly, our garden space is limited and I don't think we will grow them again next year.

I've grown both this Brandywine & Cherokee Purple for years. The Brandywine has always had such sweetness - maybe it's our dirt? One year I had an over abundance & canned about 20 qts. which I left in chunks. My husband went to the cellar to get a jar for supper - he didn't pay attention to the canning. Said he couldn't find tomatoes, just a bunch of "road kill" looking stuff. Such a funny guy. After having the spaghetti sauce he loved the flavor, but, now we always refer to the dark heirlooms as "road kill". Sometimes, company doesn't quite get it.

Honestly I am really disappointed with this tomato after reading the write up in the catalog last year. The color when ripe is not nearly as dark as the pictures. The shoulder of the fruit do not ripen as fast as the rest of the tomato so when using for canning you often have to cut off the top. We had an issue in the beginning of the season with most of these being slug food. We figured out that it is because they do not ripen as dark as the photos suggested and haven't lost them to slugs since. The flavor of these tomatoes is good however and we are thinking of trying them again next year now that we know what to watch for when ripening. I just wish they were as dark as the photo because that was the main reason we purchase them, well that and for canning them.