Maiden's Gold

Large, dark orange beefsteak tomato with excellent flavor. Sweet and medium acid; relatively soft texture. One must have patience and savor these fruit, as the plants are not productive and relatively late maturing. All fruit develop severe radial cracking at the stem end and have a very wide pedicel scar, giving these fruit quite the embattled appearance. Fruit average 8-10 ounces but can reach up to 1 pound. 2-2.5 inches long, 3-3.5 inches wide. Indeterminate plants are tall with lush foliage. Regular leaves. Ted Maiden of LaFollette, TN has been growing and saving seed from this variety since his father, Ernest Maiden, gave him seeds in 1964. Ernest grew the variety in his garden in Bristol, VA. He received the seed from his own father, Rev. Frank Maiden of Saltville, VA, at some point prior to 1956, the year Frank died. Ted told of how he nearly lost this variety: seed he grew in 1987 was rediscovered in 2009 in a box of photos which had remained packed during several moves he made while in the Air Force. After finding the seeds again, Ted named it 'Maiden's Gold' in honor of his family's stewardship. SSE Accession # 131757