Brandywine

Brandywine bears classic beefsteak-shaped fruit with a mix of red and deep purple flesh, and it often keeps green shoulders near the stem even at full ripeness. Individual fruits commonly weigh up to a pound, with some reaching a pound and a half, and a single cut slice is broad enough to blanket an entire hamburger bun. The plant itself is an indeterminate, potato-leaf type — smooth, oval foliage rather than typical serrated tomato leaves — growing in an unusually upright habit, and its flesh is described as sweet, rich, and slightly spicy. In favorable conditions the vines can stretch six to nine feet tall, making cages or trellises worthwhile support.

Brandywine is grown mainly for slicing, valued for fresh eating on sandwiches where its large fruit works well.

Reported time to maturity varies by source, from about 70 to 100 days, with some accounts noting first fruit not appearing until 90 to 100 days — roughly a month later than many cultivars. Side-by-side trials against dozens of other varieties have ranked it among the lowest yielding, and its fruit is prone to uneven ripening, green shoulders, catfacing, and cracking if rain strikes at the wrong time. Its long ripening window also leaves it more exposed to pests and diseases than faster-maturing tomatoes, reflecting its reputation as a delicate variety.

Brandywine takes its name from a stream in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and is regarded as the most esteemed tomato of the late 19th century heirloom era. It entered commerce in the mid-1880s, first offered in Burpee's 1886 catalog, and became one of the earliest tomato varieties to appear in seed catalogs of that period, remaining in cultivation for well over a century. A particular strain seemed to disappear before resurfacing in 1982, when Ohio gardener Doris Sudduth Hill donated seed traceable within her own family for at least 80 years to Seed Savers Exchange, restoring the line to wider circulation.