An indeterminate, large, pink, slicing tomato offered by High Mowing Organic Seeds. High Mowing describes Damsel as the “Holy Grail of tomatoes,” as in it grows like a hybrid (which it is), but tastes like an heirloom. Damsel F1 was bred by Dr. Jason Cavatorta of EarthWork Seed and is produced by Nipomo Native Seed in California.

Connor and I have noticed these plants since the beginning. They’ve consistently scored at the more desirable end of our evaluations for just about everything. The vines and fruit have been pumping like mad. I love the plants’ architecture, and the fruit is easy to market: big and beautiful. The fruit in our trial persist with some serious green shoulders, and we’ve gotten some negative feedback about the pinkish color. But we love the slightly “heirloom” shape (in fact, the farm is selling it as an heirloom), and the far superior quality. Also impressive is how well the fruit holds once picked – even when fully ripe.

As far as flavor? I wrote a post called “Waxing Poetic About Tomatoes,” but I never mentioned which variety inspired me to write it – it was Damsel.

First Ripe Fruit:

All harvest data represents two Damsel plants from each block, or six plants total:

Harvest 1 (August 22, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 5

Marketable Fruit: 8 fruit weighing 1220g (2.69 lb.) Unmarketable Fruit: 8 fruit weighing 921g (2.03 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: cracking, divots, too small

Harvest 2 (August 29, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 3

Marketable Fruit: 12 fruit weighing 2285g (5.04 lb.) Unmarketable Fruit: 3 fruit weighing 510g (1.12 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: cracking, too small

Average Fruit Size: 7.86 cm x 6.65 cm      (3.09″ x 2.62″)

Brix: 7.1, 6.9, 6.9

Harvest 3 (September 5, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 3

Marketable Fruit: 14 fruit weighing 2648g (5.84 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 7 fruit weighing 1326g (2.92 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: cracking, splitting (mold), too small

Harvest 4 (September 12, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 3

Marketable Fruit: 22 fruit weighing 4578g (10.09 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 10 fruit weighing 1876g (4.14 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: cracking, too small

Harvest 5 (September 19, 2017)

Picking Ease (5=easy, 1=difficult): 3

Marketable Fruit: 16 fruit weighing 2486g (5.48 lb.)   Unmarketable Fruit: 5 fruit weighing 656g (1.45 lb.)

Reasons why unmarketable: too small, deep cracking