Illustration of Amish Paste tomato
Illustration based on known variety traits. Appearance varies by growing conditions.

No. 015 · heirloom

Amish Paste

Amish Paste is an indeterminate heirloom paste tomato with red fruit. It ripens in about 85 days.

Typepaste tomato
Habitindeterminate
Days to maturity85
Fruit size6 to 12 oz
Colorred
Difficultymoderate

Flavor

Described as somewhat seedier and sweeter than normal paste cultivars, with catalogs calling the flavor excellent and the flesh meaty and large for a sauce tomato. This is the recurring catalog and grower description, not a measured claim.

Origin

Traced to Amish communities, with one account placing its origin in the 1870s near Medford, Wisconsin. It was first distributed nationally in the 1987 edition of Seed Savers Magazine by Thane Earle.

What it does well

  • One of the larger paste tomatoes, oxheart to plum shaped
  • Meaty, coreless flesh good for sauce and canning
  • Slow Food USA Ark of Taste heirloom

Where it frustrates

  • Tall indeterminate vines need staking or caging
  • Sparse foliage leaves fruit exposed and prone to sunscald
  • Late at about 85 days, so start early in cold zones

Like Amish Paste, but...

Sold out, or after a change? The closest alternatives, and how they differ.

Romabut Roma is a smaller, determinate paste with milder flavorSan Marzanobut San Marzano is a classic Italian sauce plum with thicker, less seedy flesh

Where to buy seed

Sources