Paste Tomato
Blue Beech is a long sauce tomato that's building a devoted following in northern gardens for its remarkable combination of flavor and structure. With 90 days to maturity and a robust 6-foot vine, this variety produces incredibly dense fruit that stays firm when sliced, no watery collapse, no excess seeds, yet somehow delivers an incredible depth of flavor that actually intensifies once cooked into sauce. It's the kind of tomato that rewards patience and transforms everything from fresh salads to preserved sauces into something special.
Full Sun
Moderate
?-?
72in H x ?in W
Annual, Perennial
High
Hover over chart points for details
What sets Blue Beech apart is its unusual density: when you slice into the fruit, you'll find no hollow spaces and minimal water loss, yet the flavor profile is anything but dry or bland. This is a tomato that seems to contradict itself, solid and meaty, but with the bright, complex taste you'd expect from a thinner-walled variety. The vines set abundant green fruit that ripens later in the season, making it excellent for gardeners who want to stretch their harvest into fall.
Blue Beech excels at everything a serious sauce tomato should do: stew it, blend it into smooth sauce, can it for winter pantry storage. It's equally at home sliced fresh and roasted, or simply chopped raw for immediate eating. The dense structure and low seed count make it particularly suited to applications where you want pure tomato flavor without excess liquid, it's a versatile kitchen workhorse rather than a single-purpose specialty.
Harvest when the tomatoes have developed full color and feel slightly soft to gentle pressure. Blue Beech can be picked at the breaker stage (when color is just starting to show) if needed, and will continue ripening off the vine, but flavor is best when fruit fully matures on the plant. The abundant late-season green fruit that doesn't ripen before frost can be harvested green and ripened indoors, extending your harvest window well into fall.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.