Tomato Bloody Butcher

A variable sized, red open pollinated tomato with potato leafed indeterminate plants.

Description

Bloody Butcher is a medium sized tomato with a rich, sweet heirloom taste. The indeterminate, potato-leafed plant produces uneven sized tomatoes (2-5oz) early in the season (this was the first tomato to crop in 2011 and 2012 and each year continued through to late October) and for this reason alone is worthwhile growing as it is the first real tomato of the year. The tomatoes vary in size from cherry to medium and are dark red inside. They also have a habit of “twinning” where two fruit grow into one but this doesn’t affect the taste.

It is not a particularly heavy cropper, with fewer fruits than Gardener’s Delight and smaller fruit than Ailsa Craig. It competes with the other medium sized red tomatoes but we grow it because it is so early.

We love it in early salads but its also good for cooking where it helps to darken sauces made using other, lighter fruit.

Over the years, we have grown a number of tomato cultivars which look and behave very similarly to Bloody Butcher, being early, irregular sized, potato leafed varieties and it has made me wonder whether they are just different names for the same variety as the history of all tomatoes is somewhat confusing. Its another of the tomatoes bred by Tom Wagner and was introduced around 1998 from the Netherlands.

2020 Update: Growing Bloody Butcher this year to have a direct timing comparison with Quedlinbereger Fruhe Liebe and (new for 2020) Father Frost which are supposed to be early croppers. Bloody Butcher won hands down. The first ripe fruit at the beginning of July whereas Father Frost was end of July and Quedlinberger waited until the beginning of August.