Cosmonaut Volkov

Cosmonaut Volkov bears indeterminate vines of slightly squat, deep orange-red fruit with green-tinged shoulders and bright red flesh inside, with fruits weighing around six ounces. Yields are reported as heavy, producing generously sized fruit for fresh eating, while other descriptions characterize it more simply as a round, red slicing tomato. Fruit size is generally medium to large, with a complex, tangy flavor that carries an old-fashioned, balanced character.

Cosmonaut Volkov's heavy yields of large fruit make it well suited to fresh eating straight off the vine. Beyond the table, it also serves as an all-purpose slicing tomato, fitting easily into everyday kitchen use.

Cosmonaut Volkov's flavor left an impression on gardeners, who describe it as rich, deep, balanced, sweet, and tangy. As a Ukrainian variety, it is well suited to cool regions, and growers report that it produces well even in cool conditions. Its vines kept setting fruit all summer, continuing right up until frost.

Cosmonaut Volkov traces to an heirloom tomato from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, later selected and named by former Soviet space engineer Igor Mikhailovich Maslov, an avid gardener who trialed more than 300 tomato varieties after retiring and judged this one his best. He named it for his friend Vladislav Volkov, a cosmonaut who spent 23 days aboard the Salyut 1 space station in 1971 before dying with two crewmates during the Soyuz 11 landing that June. The variety reached wider seed circles when it was introduced to the Seed Savers Exchange in 1995 by Marina Danilenko of Russia.