Amish Paste tomatoes

Amish Paste tomatoes, or Lycopersicon esculentum, originated apparently in the 1870s with the oldest Amish community in Wisconsin, Medford, USA, and became available commercially when Heirloom Seeds acquired them from the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I think this is a pretty cool history for a variety of tear drop shaped tomato, as I bought some plants this morning from the local Bunnings, a new variety that they are now stocking. I was just excited to see some healthy Heirloom tomato plants for sale. The name should have given it away, but apparently despite the Amish origin, they are also best suited for making tomato paste, salsas, passata etc. Of course they are also meant to be very palatable.

So here's hoping that in around 80 days from now, they will be ripe and  ready for harvesting, and that I will be able to start producing my own tomato pastes, passatas, relishes and dry some seeds as well. I hope they are suited to growing in the Queensland tropics but that shouldn't be an issue. There are lots of growing tips, and health and cooking tips, provided  on the label by Renaissance Heirloom tomatoes so I am hoping the plants will thrive, with adequate staking and minimal tlc. I just need to remember to feed them occasionally with Seasol and Powerfeed and tomorrow I need to add a small amount of dolomite lime to produce stronger plants. That should do it really.

At $7 a kilo for tomatoes at the supermarket today, home grown tomatoes will be very welcome again.

If anyone else is growing this variety, I would love to hear from you about your experiences. Have you seen this tomato available for sale at any farmers markets?



Thanks for reading,


Pauline