Solanum lycopersicum
Tomate Ananas, Pineapple, Black Pineapple: nothing to do with the tropical fruit, except for the colors. Cut into slices, it reveals marbling of yellow, orange, and red that cannot be guessed from the outside—each fruit is different. This is a very large tomato, sweet and slightly tart, grown as much for its appearance as for its flavor.
Characteristics:
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Marbled flesh: yellow, orange, and red mingled together, with a different pattern in every slice.
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Very large fruits: often 500 g or more, slightly ribbed.
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Rich flavor: sweet and tart at the same time, with few seeds.
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Reproducible heirloom variety: you can sow your own seeds again every year.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun and warmth are essential to bring fruits of this size to maturity.
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Soil: deep, rich, loose, and well drained. A very large-fruited variety is particularly demanding: a generous application of well-rotted compost is decisive.
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Method: sow from March, under cover or indoors, at a minimum of 20 °C—below this temperature, the seeds will not germinate. Cover with 5 mm of soil. Transplant into pots at the two-true-leaf stage. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant outdoors after the last frosts, spacing plants 80 cm apart. Bury the stem up to the first leaves: the tomato produces roots along the entire buried section, resulting in a significantly more vigorous plant—essential for supporting such large fruits.
- This is an indeterminate variety: install a very sturdy stake at planting time.
Care advice:
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Always water at the base, never on the foliage, preferably in the morning: water on the leaves provides an entry point for blight. Mulch thickly.
- Water regularly and evenly: with very large fruits, irregular watering causes splitting and blossom-end rot.
- Remove suckers and limit the plant to 4 trusses: this is the price to pay for obtaining beautiful, fully developed fruits rather than a multitude of unfinished ones.
- Rotate crops every three to four years.
Harvesting advice:
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The delicate point: with a variegated variety, color alone is not enough to judge ripeness. Rely on touch—the fruit should yield clearly under your finger—and on its fragrance, which becomes noticeable when ripe.
- Support the fruit when picking it, as its weight can easily break the truss. Store at room temperature, never in the refrigerator.
Beneficial companion plants:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its flowers are pollinated by vibration: only bumblebees can fully exploit them. Welcoming bumblebees directly improves your harvest, especially with large-fruited varieties.
- As a reproducible heirloom variety, growing it helps preserve cultivated diversity. See our heirloom tomatoes to sow.
Uses:
- Raw, cut into thick slices, with a simple drizzle of olive oil: this is how to enjoy its marbling and flavor. Cooking would spoil both.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Take the pulp from a beautiful, fully ripe fruit and let it ferment for two to three days in a little water—this step destroys the gelatinous coating that inhibits germination—then rinse: the healthy seeds will sink to the bottom. Dry them flat. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, sorted, and carefully packaged, without any chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to sow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
A different marbling in every slice: the most spectacular of heirloom tomatoes.
