Costoluto Fiorentino is an excellent tasting ribbed tomato from Florence, Italy that is surprisingly early in our Zone 4 gardens. In addition to its rich, balanced taste, its earliness was another one of its attributes we appreciated. The plants are fairly compact at 3 ft – 4 ft (90 cm – 120 cm) tall.
This is a really great, versatile Italian tomato. Enjoy it fresh, drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of salt, or use it as a sauce tomato.
A bit more:
In addition to taste, another reason we have gone big for Italian tomatoes is because of the good research that has been done on their nutritional profiles.
Looking at research that has specifically compared Italian heirloom tomatoes to modern tomato varieties, researchers have found that the levels of ‘bioactives’ in these heirloom tomatoes tend to be higher than the levels of ‘bioactives’ in commercial tomatoes. (‘Bioactives’, also called ‘functional molecules’, are beneficial plant compounds, such as, vitamins and antioxidants, which maintain human cell health and protect cells from damage caused by free radicals.)
For example, an Italian study titled ‘Ancient Tomato Varieties of Tuscany Have High Contents of Bioactive Compounds’ (see image) found that the eight heirloom tomatoes included in their study, which included Costoluto Fiorentino (as well as Canestrino di Lucca & Spagnoletta di Gaeta – two other Italian heirlooms we carry), generally had higher levels of ‘bioactives’ than the commercial varieties they tested.
Also see Riccio di Parma (on our website) for a discussion about how some ‘bioactives’ in tomatoes have declined over time. And Piatta di Bernezzo (on our website) for a discussion about flavour and ‘bioactives’.
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What is the difference between Costoluto Genovese and Costoluto Fiorentino?
Costoluto Genovese was traditionally grown in northern Italy in the farmlands around the city of Genoa. It is also a smaller tomato and more highly ribbed than Costoluto Fiorentino.
Costoluto Fiorentino was traditionally grown in the farmlands around the city of Florence (Fiorentino in Italian) in southern Italy. The tomatoes are a bit larger than Costoluto Genovese and less highly ribbed.
Please see the picture comparing the size of Costoluto Genovese and Costoluto Fiorentino – Costoluto Genovese is the smaller tomato (right); Costoluto Fiorentino the larger tomato (left).
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How to Grow Tomatoes? Start seeds indoors 6 weeks before the last frost. Plant seed 5mm (¼ inch) deep. Transplant after the danger of frost has passed/later spring.
