Jersey Breeze

Jersey Breeze is a workhorse of a red salad tomato. My original seeds came from Hudson Valley Seed Company. I really didn’t expect this variety to do well or even to live in my trial this summer, as it was one of my last tomatoes to be set out…it was July before the rather elderly seedling even reached its pickle bucket. By then we were under the usual stress of heat, high humidity, high heat index, heavy insect burden, and monsoon-like rains. However, Jersey Breeze did set fruit and produced very well for being in a pickle bucket and coping with the worst tomato-growing climate the southeast US can offer. I was a little puzzled, as my fruits were rather more scalloped, not as salad-perfect-smooth, as shown in the vendor’s photo. The texture and shelf-life were great for an all-purpose medium to medium-small tomato. The flavor was strong but balanced, perhaps not as sugar sweet as some, but still excellent for fresh eating. I would recommend this variety for growing in “difficult” climates.