Roma VF vs San Marzano
The sauce question: the American workhorse against the Italian standard.
| Roma VF | San Marzano | |
|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Open-pollinated | Heirloom |
| Growth habit | Determinate | Indeterminate |
| Days to maturity | 73-80 | 78-85 |
| Fruit color | red | red |
| Fruit size class | plum | plum |
| Typical weight | - | - |
| Primary uses | sauce, paste, canning | sauce, paste, canning |
| Introduced | 1955 | - |
| Documented resistances | 2 | 0 |
| Saves true from seed | Yes | Yes |
Measured against each other
These two have never been grown in the same trial AMSeed holds. Every difference in the table above is a difference between what each variety's own sources say about it, which is not the same as a difference between the varieties. Two catalogs counting days from different starting points, or reporting fruit weight from different seasons and soils, can differ by more than the seed does.
Where head-to-head measurements do exist: the trial record · what else we do not know
Disease resistance
Roma VF
San Marzano
No documented resistance, typical of older open-pollinated varieties.
Traits
Both: Open-Pollinated, Red, Plum / Paste, Mid Season, Sauce & Paste
Only Roma VF
- Determinate
Only San Marzano
- Heirloom
- Indeterminate
Origins
Roma VF
The USDA-bred paste tomato that became a supermarket generic. Released from the Beltsville program in the 1950s, with the VF re-selection adding fusarium and verticillium resistance, one of the earliest mainstream examples of resistance breeding in a home-garden variety.
San Marzano
The Italian paste standard from the volcanic plain below Vesuvius, where the true DOP-protected canning tomato is still grown. Long, blocky, low-seed fruit that defined what sauce tomatoes should be.
More: all comparisons · every tomato variety · filter the full database
Sources & References
Evidence: 4 sources, including 1 independent reference.
- Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners · Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Community Collection
- Tomato Growers Supply catalog · Tomato Growers Supply Company, Seed Catalog
- Vegetable MD Online · Cornell University, Plant Pathology, University or Government
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog · Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., Seed Catalog