German Johnson

German Johnson produces a meaty, deep pink beefsteak tomato prized for its creamy texture and full flavor. Ripe fruit runs dark pink with notes of citrus and melon, and a single tomato can weigh close to a pound. The plants are indeterminate, and their smooth-skinned, meaty fruit carries few seeds, making them well suited to slicing, sandwiches, and fresh eating. Some fruit reach eight to sixteen ounces, ripening with well-filled shoulders and almost no core. In fruit character it recalls the Brandywine type, though German Johnson's plants are more vigorous and productive. Individual tomatoes tend to be bumpy near the stem end in classic heirloom fashion, smoothing out toward the blossom end.

German Johnson is grown chiefly as a slicing tomato, prized on burgers and sandwiches for its size and meaty texture. The variety is a North Carolina heirloom, and its resemblance to Brandywine has kept it in the same class of large pink slicers favored for fresh eating.

German Johnson produces all season long with consistently high yields, and a single plant can set around forty fruits over its lifetime. Two strains exist: a regular-leaf type, which matures earlier and yields more, and a potato-leaf type. The regular-leaf plants grow tall as indeterminate vines and need staking or similar support, continuing to produce steadily across a range of climates.

German Johnson is reported to be one of the parent varieties behind Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter tomato, tying this heirloom's lineage into that later, well known cross.