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Brandywine (tomato)
Encyclopedia
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
plant is an heirloom
Heirloom plant
An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, or heirloom vegetable is a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture...
cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
of the species, with large potato-leaved
Potato leaf
Potato leaf, or PL, is one of two major types of leaves which tomato plants exhibit. The other type is referred to as "regular leaf," or RL. Simply stated, potato leaf tomato plants have a smooth leaf edge when compared with the serrated edge of the regular leaf. The shape is oval and may feature...
foliage and which bears large pink beefsteak-shaped fruit.
Description
Brandywine tomatoes can bear fruit up to 1.5 lbs (0.7 kg), requiring 80 to 100 days to reach maturity, making it among the slowest maturing varieties of common tomato cultivars. Brandywine has been described as having a "great tomatoey flavor", (others have called it a beautifully sweet tomato that is offset by a wonderful acidity), leading to heavy usage despite the original cultivar's relatively low yield per plant. Its fruit has the beefsteak shape and pinkish flesh, as opposed to the deep red of more common store bought varieties. Even when fully ripe, the tomato can have green shoulders near the stem.The Brandywine tomato plant also has potato leaves
Potato leaf
Potato leaf, or PL, is one of two major types of leaves which tomato plants exhibit. The other type is referred to as "regular leaf," or RL. Simply stated, potato leaf tomato plants have a smooth leaf edge when compared with the serrated edge of the regular leaf. The shape is oval and may feature...
, an unusual variation on the tomato plant whose leaves are smooth and oval with a pointy tip, instead of jagged and fjord-like the way "normal" tomato plant leaves are.
History
Burpee Seeds
Burpee Seeds, officially W. Atlee Burpee & Co., is a seed company that was founded by Washington Atlee Burpee in 1876.-History:The company first sold garden seeds, farm supplies, tools, poultry and hogs. The direction of the company began to change with the death of its founder in 1915 when his...
reports carrying it in their catalogue as early as 1886, and references to it older than that. There is no evidence that Brandywine has Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
origins.
It reached modern popularity after being introduced via the Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange, or SSE, founded by Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy, is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa, that preserves heirloom plant varieties through regeneration, distribution and seed exchange...
in 1982 by an elderly Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
gardener named Ben Quisenberry. He received the variety from a woman named Dorris Sudduth Hill who could trace Brandywine in her family for over 80 years. Brandywine has become one of the most popular home garden cultivars in the United States. Due to the proliferation of many misidentified varieties, the pink-fruited, potato-leaved Brandywine is sometimes labeled Brandywine (Sudduth's).