Burpee’s Matchless AKA Matchless, Burpee’s. A famed commercial variety available in the USA in the early 1900s. This was developed and introduced in 1889 by W. Atlee Burpee. The Burpee 1914 Catalog says: “Burpee’s Matchless is a strong vigorous grower with thrifty vines which produce large handsome tomatoes most abundantly throughout the season. The fruits, of a rich cardinal-red, are remarkably solid and smooth, free from core and uniformly of the finest flavor. The tomatoes are always of the largest size; they do not become smaller even late in the season, as the healthy growth of vine and foliage carry magnificent crops until they killed by frost. After the vines have been killed by frost we have repeatedly noticed that the full-grown green tomatoes remaining were fully as large as the ripe fruits gathered during the season. For tomatoes of the largest size, always perfectly smooth, firm and handsome, long keeping qualities and finest flavor, we say without fear of contradiction that there is no scarlet-fruited tomato the equal of Burpee’s Matchless.”

Please note that this is the regular leaf variety in agreement with original Burpee catalog descriptions. There is other seed circulating in the industry under the name “Matchless” that produce similar fruits but on dwarf, rugose leaf plants. It is believed that the rugose leaf plant variety is in fact Burpee’s ‘Quarter Century’.
Indeterminate, regular leaf plant produce medium-sized, scarlet-red, oblate fruits that are slightly sweet, mildly acid, and filled with good flavors.

Culinary Use

Salad / Slicer

Flavor Profile

Sweet

Flesh Color

Red

Fruit Color

Red

Fruit Shape

Oblate

Fruit Size

Medium

Leaf Type

Regular

Maturity

Mid-season

Plant Type

Indeterminate

Variety

Heirloom / Open Pollinated