A beef tomato (British English) or beefsteak tomato (American English) is a large

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

. Grown on the plant ''

Solanum lycopersicum The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from and was d ...

'', it is one of the largest varieties of cultivated tomatoes, regularly at 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter with some weighing or more. Most are pink or red with numerous small seed compartments (

locule A locule (: locules) or loculus (; : loculi) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usually refers to a chamber within an ovary ...

s) distributed throughout the fruit, sometimes displaying pronounced ribbing similar to ancient

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

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 In popular usage, an heirloom is something that has been passed down for generations through family members. Examples are a family bible, antiques, weapons or jewellery. The term originated with the historical principle of an heirloom in ...

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. Coeur de boeuf vraie

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''.

References

Hybrid tomato cultivars {{Vegetable-stub

Common varieties

In Italy and France

See also

References