Plant Guides · 20. February 2018

Everywhere you go....take a traveller tomato with you.

#reisetomate

'Vigorous', 'perennial' and 'oddity' are just some of the words that jumped out at me from the seed packet of the "reisetomate" traveller tomato, a Peruvian heirloom vegetable that made the cut for the new vegetables to plant in my Summer garden this year.

I had heard the previous Summer that this tomato was ideal for taking out to picnics, bushwalking, and day trips as it grows in tiny tomato segments (think of a mandarin) which grows in clusters to make beautiful and unique shapes. After seeing some pictures online, I was sold. They were going in the garden for sure!

No knife is needed to eat this wonderfully lumpy bespoke fruit, with the Germans naming it a “traveller tomato”, you can pull it apart one section at a time, which is perfect for munching! It was also a favourite with the Greeks.

This tomato originally comes from Central America with natives carrying the fruit on treks through the Andes.

The fruit is thick skinned, full of fibre, vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin B6.

Some tomatoes from my kitchen this summer:

Summer kitchen feels 💚🌱👊🏼 #bottling #produce #vegetablesgalore #ilobsterit #veggiegirl #dirtgirl #fowlersvacola #countrykitchen #summerdays #preserving #reddirtblog #gardengeek #eathealthy #tummyfriendlyfood

A post shared by ☘️Eimear McNelis (@red_dirt_blog) on Jan 6, 2018 at 2:52am PST

Red Fig Variety Tomato from the garden:

Love these little pear shaped tomatoes. They are a heirloom called "red fig" from the Diggers Club. So cute! #littletomatoes #tomato #heirloomvegetables #heirloomtomatoes #diggers #gardening #autumn #mygarden #growing #ilobsterit #green #greenthumb #vegetables #redfig

A post shared by ☘️Eimear McNelis (@red_dirt_blog) on Apr 13, 2017 at 3:24am PDT

Genovese Heirloom tomato last year in the garden:

Genovese heirloom 🍅 Tomatoes. #chunkytomato #italian #genovese #heirloomtomatoes #greenthumb #ilobsterit #green #vegetables #garden #myveggiepatch #summersleftovers #saucing #preserving #bottling #tomatolove

A post shared by ☘️Eimear McNelis (@red_dirt_blog) on Apr 14, 2017 at 3:50am PDT

I obtained the seed from The Diggers Club and added them to my rotations for the Summer garden this year. It should be noted that they should not be placed with other tomatoes , they need their own seperate garden bed, as they cross pollinate, as many ancient heirlooms do.

Growing from the seed, they were strong and hardy seedlings, germinating quickly and loved the spring humidity in my greenhouse.

Now gone into their seperate bed they are producing very well. We are getting much more than 1.1kg per plant, at least three times that.

Listed as bitter and sour variety, here in our volcanic red soil they are sweet little baubles with not a hint of acidity and a fabulous snack to take on the go.

They are ideal for adding into school lunch boxes, a schoolyard talking point perhaps!

I have added them to sauce, like all my other varieties, when they meld together, it makes the loveliest bottles for saucing.

Since they are hardy and grown well, they will now be on my permanent list, joining tigeralla, tommy toe, Scottish tomatoes and San Marzano.