[Lee Stewart]

Heirloom tomatoes are grown from seeds that have been passed down from season to season (hence the name).

So how do farmers pick the seeds that will go on to produce generations of heirloom tomatoes? Farmers take seeds from the best of the best tomato plants, then use them to grow more tomatoes.

Many heirloom varieties predate World War II, and are passed down through generations in a particular area. Often, they’re grown by ancestors of the farmers or gardeners who first grew them.

Decades of selective breeding results in tomatoes that are fairly uniform in flavor, size, juiciness, and color.