Zhong Shu #6 Tomato

This is my tomato.  Well, it’s really a Chinese tomato that was part of an exchange of germplasm between China and the US in 1988.

In 2001, I joined ​the Farmer Cooperative Genome Project and they sent me this tomato to grow.  It looks like a stereotypical slicing tomato — under a pound, round and red, but the flavor is “old-timey heirloom tomato good/tastes like a tomato should taste.”  It grows well here in Southeastern PA and seems to be disease-resistant.

In 2002, I offered it to Seed Savers Exchange and it’s been offered in the Yearbook ever since.  It’s not a flashy tomato, but it’s a reliable one with a taste that keeps people growing it.

Oh, and the name?  According to a Chinese immigrant gardener friend, the name translates to “Chinese Vegetable Company #6”

The stats on this tomato are here.

Of course, we have plenty of this tomato available for purchase as I always grow extra each year to save seed for Seed Savers Exchange.