Tomato Black Krim – Solanum lycopersicum

The Black Krim is an old Russian black variety. It is an indeterminate vine and will keep on growing till it gets too cold or decides to stop growing and flowering.

I plant them mid spring as we tend to have a cool start to spring, and then grow them up into fruit trees like pear/apple to help support them as they grow into quite large vines.

It’s a medium sized beefsteak type that tastes very good especially when fully ripe and deep in colour. It also has a pleasant soft texture that still holds together when sliced.

The skin does crack open fairly easily if it gets too much water, heat or it seems even if you look at it too long…

I pick them generally when they start to colour from green into orange unless they drop or the vines are threatened by animals or birds. Like most tomatoes they ripen just as well off the vine inside in daylight at about 20-25c degrees once they reach that colour stage.

I have found you need to initially place them stem side down for a day or so to make sure no moisture collects around the stem depression and then rotate them to stem side up every day or so till they are fully ripe.

They are not the most easy of tomatoes to grow, handle and ripen and then use due to their size and shape, but the taste is really good.

These ones in the photos are about 7-8cm in diameter and show the various shades of ripening.