Since we’re on to “new to us tomatoes,” we can’t miss this one. We received this seed this year from a local grower, insisting we “must” give this one a try.
We had to do a bit of digging to learn what we had, a part of which was growing it out to see what it produced. It was originally described to us as “Russian Honey,” but we knew that was a generic name and we’re the type to really tear apart our genetics. The OG name for this tomato is Rozovyi Myod, which basically translates to “Pink Honey.” In the US, you’d most likely find these genetics as “Siberian Pink Honey” or even just “Pink Honey.”
This tomato is a commercial variety you’d find grown throughout Eastern Europe and across Russia. The genetics were introduced to the North American scene in 2000 by Andrey Baranovski, out of Minsk, Belarus. It has developed a rare, but avid following since, notably among northern growers.
Given the northern origins, we were excited to see how this indeterminate variety developed. In the greenhouse, these tomatoes put on the literal pounds, producing massive and early developing fruit. We’re seeing average sizes approaching 12 ounces, with ranges from 8 to 16 ounces.
We’ve found this tomato to be rather versatile across slicing needs, saucing and even just basic canned tomatoes. Despite this being a classic heirloom type, we can tell the genetic development was carefully crafted to make an excellent northern tomato. Flavor is slightly sweet and the meat is exceptional.
We also tried growing this tomato outdoors. Though it was described as fully maturing outdoors, we’ve only seen slightly lagging performance compared to our best performing outdoor tomatoes. Nonetheless, this would be a variety that we think a northern grower should try, if outdoor growing is the only option, as the weights more than make up for the slightly lagging performance.
We’ve reserved some seed as we’re really interested in trying this one in cooler seasons. We suspect that it would be a clear cut winner for us as a “general” tomato, just based on what it did with a “little bit” of heat we received this season.
This is the first year growing it, so we still have more to learn. But, we’ve been impressed by this tomato’s performance and it’s definitely reached “memorable” status. We still want to see it across seasons, but no doubt this one earned its way to a second year trial!
