This Rare Heirloom Tomato Should Be The Star Of Your Garden This Year

Green thumbs up to everyone who began growing their own produce with tomatoes! They're among the most satisfying plants to cultivate, and they're a bit like video games: Get each season right and you progress from store-bought seedlings to the rare, heirloom varieties, like the gorgeous Noire de Cosebœuf. It's not just a mouthful to pronounce, as this lush fruit tastes amazing, too, with a rich, slightly salty flavor that some liken to wine. No added flavor boosters needed here, so move over beefsteak — there's a new tomato in town this summer.

Noire de Coseboeuf fruit can grow to around the same size or bigger than standard beefsteak tomatoes, weighing up to 9 ounces. They are downright bizarre in their beauty, full of folds and creases, and turn a deep red color when ripe, often with green or darker stripes on the top. Their thinnish skins do tend to scar or split as they grow, and it's important to pick them before they become over-ripe (wait for them to be al dente, according to experts). Otherwise, they go mushy and don't taste as nice.

Heirloom tomatoes are plants that have been carefully grown and their seeds saved for more than 50 years without being cross-pollinated by other varieties. Although they might seem intimidating to grow yourself, these tomatoes can be just as easy to grow as other kinds and often make for an eye-catching display. Do make sure to use this fertilizer tip for a bumper yield.

As so often happens, my good intentions of looking after my tomato plants count for nothing if I don't plant them next to basil or do any watering or weeding, but the Noire de Cosebœuf may be even the laziest gardener's friend. A Redditor from Oklahoma proudly showed off their tomato haul, despite claiming to have not done anything with them for several weeks. During a very hot summer. With zero rain. "I have a feeling these will be one of those varieties that produce until I rip them out," they mused.

While the name of this particular, rare heirloom tomato is very obviously French, the Noire de Cosebœuf also comes with a dash of genuine mystique. Some growers sniffily claim it's not even a real tomato and is actually a Purple Calabash, one of several "black" tomato varieties. Others insist it was developed by a local man known only as André, though it's still unclear if the tomato really did originate in the Loire Valley hamlet of Cosebœuf. 

What is certain is that this voluptuous tomato was featured in the 2004 Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook, and American horticulturalists haven't looked back since. And if you really want to upset an heirloom tomato grower, ask if the beautiful, deep red fruit they've been cultivating all season is a Purple Calabash.