Solanum lycopersicum
Origin: Puerto Cortes, Honduras
Improvement status: Cultivated wild material
Seeds per packet: ~30
Germination tested 10/2024: 91%
Life cycle: Annual
EFN EXCLUSIVE. This delicious tomato — our favorite for taste two years in a row — was collected by the USDA in 1976 along a road near the village of Puerto Cortes, about 20 miles outside San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras (and presently one of the most violent cities in the world, best known in the United States as the starting point for a famous migrant caravan). The fruit are not uniform — indicative of its semi-wild origins — ranging from round to somewhat flat, rarely larger than an inch and a half in diameter. The taste is a perfect blend of sweet and sour. We first grew this tomato to honor the resilient people of the San Pedro Sula region, which has been gravely affected by drug trafficking violence, corporate corruption, and political oppression. We were pleasantly surprised to find a real gem in this tomato. Very productive.
We hope that when you eat this tomato it will remind you of the humanity of the refugees fleeing Honduras for a better life in the United States. Remember that the delicious fruit you're enjoying once nourished those people, who gave it up — and so much more — not because they want to hurt us, but because they want to help themselves and their families. It is but a symbol of all they've left behind, of all the trappings of home they may never taste or see or feel or know again.
GROWING TIPS: As with all tomatoes, start indoors in March or early April. Plants should be 2-3 feet apart. This is a semi-wild tomato so it doesn't need much care once established. It will benefit from a trellis, but with its sprawling growth habit it will still produce even if allowed to grow on its own.
