Oxheart tomatoes are powerhouses in your tomato garden. Perhaps due to their different shape from other tomatoes, oxhearts are an often overlooked variety by gardeners when searching for seeds for next year’s garden. But, take another look! Oxhearts are one of the most versatile tomatoes around!
Why Grow Oxheart Tomatoes?
- Many varieties grow very large; up to 2 and even 3 pounds
- They are an incredibly versatile tomato: they are meaty with very few seeds but with great flavor. They make a great slicing tomato for burgers, sammies, or a panzanella salad, and due to their meatiness, they are also perfect for sauces and salsas
- Most oxheart tomatoes are heirlooms, so you can save the seeds
- They are all indeterminate, so they will continue to produce tomatoes throughout the growing season
- They are both heat and cold tolerant, and produce reliably in a number of climates and zones, even areas with cool nights like Russia, Ukraine, and the Pacific Northwest. They also grow well in places with hot summers like Florida
- They are beautiful, shaped like a heart, and come in a huge range of vibrant colors
Description
The most striking feature of the oxheart, of course, is its shape. It is often described as having sloping shoulders and a pointed tip. But just one look and it is clear that the shape resembles a heart. In fact, the Italian name for this variety is Cuore de Bue, which (fittingly) translates to “Heart of an Ox”. Oxhearts are not uniform though, and they can vary dramatically in shape. They can also be either smooth or pleated.
Oxhearts can come in many colors, too; including red, pink, yellow, orange, and multi colored. Two of my favorite varieties are bi-colored varieties. The “Orange Russian” is an orange variety with red streaking both on the inside and the outside, and it is a reliably massive tomato. “Sergeant Pepper”, has purple shoulders and red insides.
Oxheart tomatoes are generally large, although they vary in size based upon the specific variety. Each fruit averages up to a pound, although the larger oxheart varieties can weigh up to 2 or even 3 pounds.
Many Oxheart tomatoes have fern – like, or potato like leaves rather than the more traditional tomato leaf. Even more startling about the leaves, though, is that many Oxhearts contain a unique gene referred to as the “Wilty” gene. This makes the whole plant appear to be sickly at the very time you are ready to harvest the fruit. But don’t rip that plant out!! The wilting leaves are perfectly normal! The plant will probably continue to put out tomatoes straight through to when it succumbs to frost.
Some of the meaty Oxheart varieties can have hollow areas on the inside where the seeds would usually be. If you don’t like many seeds in your tomatoes, an Oxheart is for you. This really makes this tomato good for a variety of foods – including salsa, sauces, salads, and yes, even sammies and burgers.
Taste
This is where the oxheart shines! Despite its reputation as a sauce tomato (probably due to its meatiness and very prolific production), these babies have a great flavor. Not a lot of acid, Oxhearts tend to be more rounded and sweeter depending upon the variety. But you still get the complexity of flavor you expect in a slicing tomato. To me they taste balanced.
Tips for Growing Oxheart Tomatoes
When planting, make sure to put them in great soil, and mix some good compost into the soil. Of course we say that for all tomatoes, but it is especially true for oxhearts. They really need the extra nutrients to thrive, and that compost will be the difference between harvesting just a handful of tomatoes per plant versus dozens. In addition to the compost, try to use my planting hole recipe, which will support the plant’s growth throughout the season.
I’ve also found that they like more water than my other tomatoes through the hottest part of the summer, when you might be starting to cut back the water on a beefsteak.
Of course. Oxhearts vary by variety, so check in on your plants regularly through the growing season.
