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A beef tomato (British English) or beefsteak tomato (American English) is a large tomato. Grown on the plant Solanum lycopersicum, it is one of the largest varieties of cultivated tomatoes, regularly at 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter with some weighing 450 g (1 lb) or more. Most are pink or red with numerous small seed compartments (locules) distributed throughout the fruit, sometimes displaying pronounced ribbing similar to ancient pre-Columbian tomato cultivars. While popular among home growers for beef sandwich toppings and other applications requiring a large tomato such as toppings on large steaks, beefsteaks are not grown commercially as often as other types, since they are not considered as suitable for mechanization as smaller slicing tomatoes. Non-commercially, however, they are the most popularly grown tomato in North America.
Common varieties
- Beefmaster VFN, a popular hybrid beefsteak
- Beefsteak VFN
- Big Beef
- Brandywine, (a pink heirloom variety)
- Bucking Bronco
- Cherokee Purple, a dusky red/purple beefsteak, said to have exceptional flavour
- Marmande
- Mortgage Lifter, another popular heirloom variety
- Pink Beefsteak
In Italy and France
Both in Italy and France, a variety of beefsteak tomato is produced which looks like an ox's heart in shape, as it is pointing down.
In Italy, the cuore di bue has been registered, but not in France, where some companies continue naming tomatoes with different qualities cœur de bœuf.
See also
References
- ^ "beef tomato". Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- "beefsteak tomato". merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
- ^ "Beefsteak Tomato Plant: How to Grow Beefsteak Tomatoes". masterclass.com. MasterClass. September 28, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
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