Fruit, vegetables and pulses

Belmonte tomato

Belmonte tomato: a pink oxheart brought home from America in the early 1900s

An emigrant from Belmonte Calabro brought it from America in the early twentieth century, and local families have saved its seed ever since, each keeping its own line. A traditional agri-food product (PAT), it grows on the village's hillside terraces above the Tyrrhenian coast of Cosenza province and is picked in summer.

• A big oxheart, up to 1.5 kg, pink turning red once fully ripe
• Very firm, almost crisp flesh that is never mealy
• ARSAC tastings found some selections markedly sweet and low in acid

How to enjoy it. Its firm, sweet flesh shows best simply sliced and eaten as it is. It belongs to the Calabrian tomato kitchen, whose traditional dishes include stuffed tomatoes and sursuminata, eggs scrambled with tomato.

Production areas

Calabria

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