Solanum lycopersicum
Origin: Germany via South Minneapolis
Improvement status: Cultivar
Seeds per packet: ~15
Germination tested 11/2025: 90%
Life cycle: Annual
Habit: Indeterminate
Jim Tjepkema is a Minneapolis resident and long-time member of Seed Savers Exchange. He maintains about 40 of his favorite seed varieties. In 2021, EFN co-founder Dusty Hinz and his family opened a garden center in Minneapolis, and Jim came in to check it out. They got to talking all things seeds and are now starting to get some of Jim's favorite varieties out to the wider world.
This tomato was grown for seed by Jim in his south Minneapolis backyard. It was originally obtained by Jim's uncle Jake, from Jake's German neighbor. Jim aquired this seed nearly 40 years ago and has made the seed available through Seed Savers Exchange for many years.
Jim has noticed that at least one other tomato, 'Old German', has many of the characteristics of Jake's. He guesses that 'Jake's German' and 'Old German' were well liked by German gardeners and brought here by people who migrated to the US from Germany.
The fruit is a large beefsteak type tomato, many are 5 inches across and can be over a pound each. They have a dark pink color with a tendency to have a little green color on the shoulders. They have a very good flavor that is somewhat mild. The leaf shape is more like a potato leaf. The vines are long and thick stemmed.
'Jake's German' starts producing fairly early in the season and also produce quite a few fruit toward the end of the season. They are thin skinned and may not keep very long if not eaten soon after they are ripe.
