A few weeks ago, I was having dinner at a renowned restaurant in San Francisco, when I noticed something a bit troubling on the menu. According to the description, the “Heirloom Tomato Salad” was made with a mix of Sweet 100 and Sungold tomatoes — both of which are hybrid varieties.
OK, big deal, they made a mistake. Well, two weeks later, I stopped at a farm stand advertising heirloom tomatoes, and sure enough, the alleged heirlooms were hybrids.
All this falsity in advertising has me wondering if the term “heirloom” is becoming just another one of those previously meaningful adjectives now relegated to the greenwashed ranks of “natural,” “local,” and “family-farm.” As someone who co-manages a farm, where we grow a number of heirloom varieties, I certainly hope it isn’t.
Heirloom vegetable varieties are open-pollinated, which means that if you save the seed, the next generation will breed “true” (assuming no accidental cross pollination). Additionally, heirlooms are from seed lines usually 50 years-old or older. Granted, this stipulation about age is a somewha... Read more
