What makes a tomato an heirloom tomato?
An heirloom is a thing handed down from generation to generation. Is an heirloom tomato then a tomato plant that’s been handed down from generation to generation? Sort of. An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated tomato whose seed grows “true to type” — meaning, if you plant Cherokee Purple seed, you’re going to get Cherokee Purple plants. From generation to generation, that seed will stay true (and so, you could argue, the plant gets “passed down”). Some heirloom tomatoes have, in fact, stayed within one family and so are heirlooms in the truest sense of the word. Other heirloom tomatoes circulate widely. The term “heirloom” was applied to tomatoes (and plants in general) to distinguish traditional varieties (and techniques) from the F1 hybrids of modern seed industry. Seed from an F1 hybrid plant reverts to something in its parentage and so does not stay true from generation to generation. Through years of selection, some hybrids have been “stabilized” or “dehybridized” so that thei
