Indiana Red is a rare, open-pollinated, mid-20th-century American heirloom  tomato that originated in rural southern Indiana during the Great Depression era.
 
A large, heart-shaped oxheart producing crimson red fruits typically 12–24 oz, with meaty flesh with small seed cavities and balanced sweet/acid flavor (often described as “the taste people remember from childhood garden tomatoes”)

Its dual classification as both a “beefsteak” and a “paste” tomato is a testament to its remarkable versatility. I often call varieties like Indiana Red “crossovers”: big enough for gorgeous, juicy slices on sandwiches, yet meaty and low in juice, making them equally outstanding for cooking, canning, and thick, rich sauce.
 
HISTORY: The variety was developed and preserved by the family of Clarence Baker (sometimes spelled Bakker) of Jennings County, Indiana. Clarence, a farmer and truck gardener, selected it over many years for its huge size, excellent sweet-old-fashioned flavor, and reliable performance on his heavy clay-loam soils near the Muscatatuck River bottomland. Family records and oral history place the initial selection work in the late 1920s to early 1930s, with the line fully stabilized by the late 1940s.
 
After Clarence’s death, his daughter Wilma Baker Compton and later his granddaughter continued growing and sharing the seed within the county. In the 1990s a small amount was given to the Seed Savers Exchange by an Indiana member who had received seed directly from the Baker family; it has appeared sporadically in the SSE Yearbook ever since under the name “Indiana Red” or “Clarence Baker’s Indiana Red.”
 
Because it was never commercially introduced, Indiana Red remains extremely scarce outside of a few heirloom circles in the Midwest.
 
 
Sold as a single plant in a 3.5" pot.