Ox Heart

An heirloom tomato, according to Wikipedia, is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) cultivar. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. You might find them on a salad from the Watermark. Or on a sandwich at Portfolio. The thing about heirloom tomatoes is that they haven't been bred for shelf-life and shipping. They have been passed on through the ages because of their hardiness (ability to withstand the pressures of insects or weather) and because, most importantly, they taste like real vegetable(fruit actually). In this over homogenized and sort This picture is of an Ox Heart heirloom tomato given to me by the farmer at Arcadian Feilds Farm in Hope Valley, RI.

Heirloom tomato can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes. Some are prone to cracking or lack disease resistance. As with most garden plants, cultivars can be acclimated over several gardening seasons to thrive in a geographical location through careful selection and seed saving---cool! You can be a mini Mendel.Ox Hearts are one of many. Here are some others you might encounter at a RI farmers' market or on the menu at RISD Dining:
* Big Rainbow –
*Baby Special –
*Black Krim –
*Cherokee Purple –
*Green Zebra –
*Hillbilly –
*Jubilee –
*Lillian's Yellow Heirloom -
*Mortgage Lifter –
*Traveler –