Druzba Tomato

Druzba tomato plants grown by Shine Springs Farm in various size containers. Druzba means friendship in Bulgaria and the Druzba is a Bulgarian heirloom tomato.

Druzba means “friendship” in Bulgarian. The Druzba tomato is a Bulgarian red heirloom slicing tomato—great for sharing summer lunches with friends. The size is about 4”-5” across, which is about the size of a tennis or baseball.

Like many of the heirloom tomatoes I grow, I discovered the Druzba through the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. The SESE describes the tomato as “excellent juicy sweet flavor” and the fruit as resistant to blight, cracking and blossom-end rot, but also with a thin skin. The fruit grows in clusters.

2021 is the first year I’ve grown Druzba tomatoes, so I can’t attest to the taste on a first-hand basis, but the reviews are excellent.

Reviewers on the Dave’s Garden website—including some from central Alabama and Georgia—describe the Druzba as a great tasting tomato that grows well in our region. Sweet and tangy are two adjectives that jumped out at me.

A reviewer on Mary’s Heirloom Seeds says she grew 20 varieties in 2019 and the Druzba was her favorite, taste-wise. I should note that this reviewer is in a far-northern climate, very unlike Alabama, but the reviews on Dave’s Garden from growers in our area are also very positive.

The folks at Burpee, a commercial seed supplier, describes the Druzba as the “most beautiful heirloom tomato.” Reviews of the Druzba tomato on the Burpee website describe the Druzba as tasty, great producer, and “zesty.”

We will have a limited number of Druzba tomato plants for sale at the Florence Lauderdale Farmers Market in early June.

The Druzba is an indeterminate variety.