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Tomatoes for Northern Gardens

Salzer's Ferris Wheel Tomato

Great Lakes Staple Seeds

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Salzer's Ferris Wheel Tomato

(Solanum lycopersicum); a Centennial variety; a Slow Food Ark of Taste variety; a Wisconsin Connection variety; Indeterminate; Beefsteak; Pink; Regular leaf (wispy); Mid season;

Championed by Wisconsin's John A. Salzer Seed Company at the turn of the 19th century, Ferris Wheel is an eye-catching variety with its large, pink beefsteak fruits. From the 1895 Salzer Seed Company Catalog:

“This monster, this leviathan, this giant, measures almost 2 feet in circumference. We studied for an appropriate name and finally concluded to name it Ferris Wheel Tomato, in honor of one of the greatest inventions of the age. This Tomato possesses every good quality to be found in a Tomato. The vines are strong and vigorous, and easily bear their enormous weight of fruit, and when we come to giant size, weight, solidity, no other Tomato begins to approach it.” 

[90 days, indeterminate — 'Ferris Wheel" is an old variety that was once very popular, but nearly disappeared until it was rediscovered in the 1990s by author and tomato authority Craig LeHoullier. The plants are a regular leaf type that are somewhat wispy, common in other large, pink, beefsteak-type varieties.

Released by the John A. Salzer Seed Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1894, you can read their amazing claims in the scan of their description included in the photo link above. Although none of the fruit we have grown out are true "monsters," we have harvested ones weighing in at thirty-two ounces. Some of the later setting fruit ripen as small as eight ounces here on the farm, but a pound seems to be a typical specimen weight. The flavor definitely makes this variety one worth growing and preserving for future generations. They are juicy, deliciously complex but mild, and slightly sweet.

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1094643]

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Released by the John A. Salzer Seed Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1894, this intensely flavored tomato was once prized for its uniquely large size. From the 1895 Salzer Seed Company Catalog, “This monster, this leviathan, this giant, measures almost 2 feet in circumference. We studied for an appropriate name and finally concluded to name it Ferris Wheel Tomato, in honor of one of the greatest inventions of the age. This Tomato possesses every good quality to be found in a Tomato. The vines are strong and vigorous, and easily bear their enormous weight of fruit, and when we come to giant size, weight, solidity, no other Tomato begins to approach it.” Despite this colorful description, Salzer’s Ferris Wheel Tomato was dropped from the catalog in the 1940s due to competition from new varieties.

This variety was essentially extinct until Craig LeHoullier, author of Epic Tomatoes, brought it back by ordering seeds from the USDA collection in 1999. A representative from Victory Seeds reports, “Although none of the fruit we have grown out are true ‘monsters,’ we have harvested ones weighing in at thirty two ounces… but a pound seems to be a typical specimen weight.”

Juicy, slightly sweet, and deliciously complex, Salzer’s Ferris Wheel Tomato shares some similarities with the typical beefsteak tomato, but with a much finer flavor.]


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