Tomatoes That Mean Business (and Required No-Nonsense Pruning)

Community Roots
6 hours ago
2 min read

From Farm to Food Truck: Finding Purpose in a Tomato

Last season taught us something simple yet profound: our tomatoes aren’t just fruits—they’re tools in the food service dance. We realized our customers needed produce that sped up prep without compromising flavor. That got us wondering: could we make sales to commercial kitchens even better if we offered tomatoes that meant less chopping and less mess?

Enter the Supersauce and Supersteak hybrids—big, meaty, and a dream for chopping with minimal fuss. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill slicers; they’re the workhorses we trialed to see if we could bridge farm and kitchen in a smarter way.

Meet the Supersauce: The “Superhero” Sauce Tomato

Our Supersauce tomatoes? They’re not just large—they’re colossal paste hybrids bred for serious sauce-making efficiency:

Hailed as the world’s largest sauce tomato, each weighs in at up to 2 pounds (5.5″ tall × 5″ wide).
They’re indeterminate F1 hybrids—so they keep fruiting all season.
The flesh is meaty, nearly seedless, and super-easy to peel—perfect for chopping or pureeing with minimal fuss.
One single tomato literally fills an entire sauce jar.

But there’s a catch—the stems are slender, and these giants will literally tear the plant apart if you don’t support them tirelessly. As one gardener put it:

"You need to get on top of supporting the fruit… they will literally tear the plant apart."

Bottom line: this hybrid demanded devotion in pruning and trellising.

Enter Supersteak: The Beefcake of Tomatoes

Then there's Supersteak, the beefsteak hybrid that’s all about size and slicing:

A Burpee-bred hybrid (and later carried by Weezie’s Garden), delivering fruits between 1 and 2 pounds each.
An updated descendant of old-school beefsteaks—offering better flavor, earlier maturity, and improved disease resistance.
It’s indeterminate and vigorous—chunky, flavorful slices destined for sandwiches, burgers, or barbecue plates.

Prune. Trellis. Repeat. No Messing Around.

Let’s be clear: these varieties are not for slackers. They screamed for structure:

Supersauce: slender vines, hulking fruit. Without sturdy trellises, we were looking at tomato carnage.
Supersteak: big, heavy fruit on unrelenting vines. Prune and stake like your crop depends on it—because it does.

And yet, we kept at it because the payoff matched the question we started with: could we give chefs less mess, faster prep, and more flavor on the plate? These hybrids proved it’s possible.

Wrapping It Up: Why We Grew These

We weren’t just chasing novelty; we were answering a call—to make produce prep faster, tastier, and more satisfying for our commercial chef partners. These hybrids aligned with our mission:

Supersauce: faster peeling, meaty interiors, less waste = more magic in the sauce.
Supersteak: massive slices that make barbecue plates and nachos pop.

And, of course, we didn’t forget our roots—literally. Through the ADAPT project in partnership with Seed Savers Exchange, we also grew three heirlooms: Kellogg’s Breakfast, Una Hartstock, and Greenwich. These beauties now star on the Grindhouse Barbecue’s loaded nachos and baked potatoes, bringing heirloom flavor and heritage to every bite, but YOU CAN FIND them whole and for purchase as recently as THIS THURSDAY, 5-9pm September 4 on the patio at Happy Street Bru Werks at 209 S. Gay St. in Mount Vernon.