Earlirouge seed now available commercially from the Turtle Tree Seed Initiative.
The Earlirouge tomato was released in 1977 by Jack Metcalf of the Agriculture Canada Smithfield Experimental Farm, in Trenton, Ontario. It was probably the most commercially successful release of the eight or nine open pollinated tomato varieties developed and released there from 1967 to 1993.
Earlirouge tomato plants have a semi-determinate growth habit.
Tomatoes from the plants are medium sized and usually will fit whole, cored and peeled, in a wide mouth canning jar and even in a regular mouth jar with a little squishing. Like several of the Metcalf releases, tomato interiors are meaty and deeply colored. And of course, they have excellent tomato flavor, usually the main reason any home gardener grows a variety of tomato.
Seed produced in 2022.