Dark purple skin over deep red, meaty flesh: the ‘Black Krim’ tomato ripens to fruits of up to a pound apiece, almost seedless and soft-tasting, and originally from the Crimean peninsula. Slice it into summer salads for colour contrast — provided you water often at the base and keep the leaves dry.
As its name shows, it originated in Crimea, a peninsula south of Ukraine. Its dark purple color also contributed to its name. The Black Krim tomato has only spread across the planet in the last 30 years. Its large meaty fruits (up to a pound or 500g) have a soft, yummy taste and are almost seedless – a key to explaining why they’re still as famous as ever.
Smart tip:
use plastic water bottles with the top cut off for nursery pots. Plantlets will then create long roots capable of drilling deeper underground for minerals.
Whether you’ve bought them from a market or have grown them yourself, transplant your tomato seedlings to the ground in late spring, spacing them 16 to 20 inches apart (40 to 50 cm). For them to settle in well, slant each seedling in the hole and backfill to the point of burying the base up to the first leaves. This portion of the stem will sprout new roots, which increases the plant’s vigor overall.
Smart tip:
Remember to stake your ‘Crimea black’ tomatoes as you’re planting them, so that that you don’t damage the roots later on.
Three moments decide the crop: getting the seed started under cover, moving the plants out once the soil has warmed, and picking over a long late-season window.
| Stage | Season | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Sowing | Mid-spring | Soak the seed for a day, sow in nursery pots and keep them under a cold frame |
| Planting out | Late spring | Set seedlings 16 to 20 inches (40 to 50 cm) apart, slanted and buried to the first leaves |
| Harvest | Midsummer to mid-autumn | Pick over a four-month window, leaving fruit to ripen on the plant until needed |
| Storing | After picking | Keep surplus ripe fruit in the refrigerator for about a week |
Staking is done at planting time, not later, so that the roots are never disturbed.
All tomatoes, including the Black Krim, need water. Water it often at the base and don’t get any leaves wet. When fruits appear, start removing some of the lower leaves on the plant, to expose the fruits. This speeds the ripening process up.
Smart tip:
Don’t get too zealous about this, though: after all, leaves are what help the plant grow and survive.
The main disease that affects the ‘Black Krim’ tomato is downy mildew. As for parasites, more often then not it’ll be cotton bollworm caterpillars and whitefly you’ll be dealing with on your plants.
The Black Krim tomato is ready for harvest in a four-mouth window, from midsummer to mid-autumn. To make the most of the nutritional benefits of this fruits, it’s best to let them ripen on the plant until the very day you need them. In case of excess ripe fruits, store them for about a week in the refrigerator.
The fleshy fruit of the Black Crimea plant, and its soft-tasting flesh make it an excellent candidate for your summer salads. The deep color of its meat will contrast interestingly with that of other ingredients.
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