This is the tomato I was the most excited to grow this year. There’s just something about the unusual color and shape that had me chomping at the bit to try this beautiful tomato. Also known as the Black Crimea Tomato, this Russian heirloom tomato is a great producer of large, show-stopping tomatoes.

Read about planting my summer garden (including Black Krim) here.

Black Krim Tomatoes regularly get high marks in tomato competitions for their wonderful, slightly smoky flavor. Many of my Rose Table readers weighed in on a tomato thread on my Facebook page and said that Black Krim is their favorite tomato!

The color is the most striking thing about Black Krim tomatoes. They’re a black-ish/brown-ish red with a bit of a greenish hue on the outside. A Black Krim tomato is a gorgeous addition to any green salad or herbed tomato salad. Get a recipe for a Burrata Salad using Black Krim tomatoes here.

These are big, juicy beefsteak tomatoes. One slice is all you need to top a burger. They’re perfect for the famed tomato sandwich too. What I love the most is the shape. Does this not kind of look like a pumpkin to you?! Heirloom tomatoes are so damn cool with their fun shapes.

This is a pretty compact plant, only reaching about 3-4 feet tall, making it easy to grow even in the smallest garden. It looks like a dwarf in my garden next to some of my 6+ feet cherry tomato plants! Because of its compact size, it does well in a cage. Black Krim is a great producer with a high yield. I lost track of how many gorgeous tomatoes I harvested from my plant!

I also have to commend Black Krim for its resistance to splitting. That’s something I struggle with here in Texas because of the flash flood-level rain we get followed by bouts of drought. I don’t think a single Black Krim had a crack in it! The birds did get a couple the second they got any color, so I started harvesting them green and they ripened very well on my windowsill.

Want tomato-growing tips? Read my How to Grow Tomatoes article here.