Sugören Pembesi is from the Sugören (formerly known as Çengiler) Village of Yalova, Turkey, that was founded by the Balkan Turks who escaped to Anatolia in 1925, when they escaped from being slaughtered during the Bulgarian independence from the Ottoman Empire. This tomato has been grown in the same village since then.
Fruits of Sugören Pembesi are pink, uniformly round, blemish free, firm, juicy and packed with flavor. Being one of the most prolific traditional tomatoes we have ever grown in our field, indeterminate vines of Sugören Pembesi keep producing fruits until frost. Although fruit skin is thin, we typically don’t observe any cracking throughout the growing season.
We originally received seeds for this tomato from two different sources. One was a grower who purchased the seeds from the Sugören Village co-op for us, paying 95 Turkish cents (kuruş) per seed in early 2010’s (about half a dollar per seed at the time). Other one was our dear friend and seed saver, Gökhan Erdinç, who received the seeds from another seed saver who had collected the seeds from the same village, where the tomato originated and has been stewarded. We grew both seeds, and concluded that both sources are genuine. If you are an heirloom tomato enthusiast, we highly recommend you to try this one.
Our current seed stock was grown by Tom Wahlberg of Decorah, IA. Photos by Tom Wahlberg
Packet has min. 25 seeds
Commercially introduced by us
Phonetically pronounced: sue-gur-an pem-beh-see
- Solanum lycopersicum
- Full sun
- Planting depth: 1/8″
- Sprouts in 7-10 days
- Ideal growing temperature: 75-95F
- Plant spacing: 24″
- Frost hardy: No
- Growth habit: Indeterminate
- Growing tips: Start tomato seeds in seedling trays in seed starting soil that has essential nutrients in it 6-8 weeks prior to last frost. Barely cover the seeds with soil and keep the soil moist for quick germination. Make sure to keep the young tomato seedlings under good light to have strong plants with sturdy, healthy stems and leaves. Transplant after last frost in well-drained, fertile soil. Feed with liquid fertilizer once every two weeks. Water tomato plants regularly especially in flower stage. Mulch and always water at plant base to minimize disease. Trellis indeterminate varieties with long vines and prune leaves if the plant canopy becomes too thick for improved air circulation.
Very slow to bloom and produce, but the tomatoes are delicious and just like I remember in Turkey.
I have grown three of the pink tomatoes for several years now – Sugören Pembesi, Haifeze Balic, and Turkey tomato. They have all done well at my community garden in Cleveland Ohio, and my family looks forward to them every season. In my opinion, these are the perfect sandwich and salad tomato – I made a panzanella from them, and it really was one of the best things I ate that summer. The texture is fine-grained, and the balance of flavor is gorgeous. The taste is a little more delicate than a “normal” red tomato, but still so flavorful. I think if you amend your soil and give these plenty of sun, they’ll do well. Even in poor conditions at my garden I get some beautiful maters from these.
My growing season is too short, so they never really ripened. So sad.