Heirloom Tomatoes: Lemon Boy and Pineapple

Lemon Boy and Pineapple Heirloom Tomatoes

Two of the heirloom tomatoes found in our gardens are; Lemon Boy and Pineapple. There are two visible differences between these two; the color and the slight size difference. Lemon Boy, fully ripened, is yellow, and Pineapple, fully ripened is orange.

Unless they are placed side by side, the color difference is not easy to see. The Lemon Boy tends to be slightly larger than the Pineapple–when grown with identical conditions of Sunlight, water, soil, ambient (air) temperature and humidity (these plants are planted next to each other in the garden).

Pineapple Tomato; Sliced

These tomatoes tend to have a fleshy matrix inside and are great as snacks, cut into slices for sandwiches, or cut into quarters and canned.  They are very similar in appearance when sliced (Pineapple is shown sliced in the figure, to the right).

While it may seem that these tomatoes will not be fully ripened and flavorful, if you close your eyes to sample them, the rich tomato flavor is very evident!

It took me a few years to try these — they just don’t have that beautiful red, appealing color. One benefit of the yellow color (at least it seems to be so far)– is that they aren’t sampled by the birds, or mammals, as much as the red ones. If that holds up, we’ll be enjoying the vine-ripened produce until the heat stops their production!