ISSUE 96, FOOD OF THE 50 STATES, Part 7: Michigan Heirloom Treasures

Michigan Heirloom Treasures

The states of the upper Midwest had rich Native legacies and a tradition of horticultural innovation, hence gave rise to numbers of distinctive fruits and vegetables that have held a place in the orchard and garden for decades. The most flavorful and historically significant of these deserve recognition. So here is a roll call of Michigan’s finest.

Isbell’s Golden Colossal Tomato. Introduced 1915 by S. M. Isbell of Jackson, MI. Has some of the genetics of the older German Yellow Tomato, but has better internal structure, configuration, and heft. Among yellow tomatoes, it ranks among the very top in terms of kitchen utility and flavor. It is offered by at least four heirloom seed brokers in 2025.

Kellogg’s Breakfast Tomato: •Darrell Kellogg of Redford, MI, secured seed for this famous beefsteak tomato in West Virginia and popularized it in his home state. He forwarded it to the Seed Saver’s Exchange. It has an excellent sugar/acid balance, works well as both a slicer and the broiling tomato. Probably an early 20th century improvement of a late 19^th century tomato. Widely grown in Michigan, and is excellent as a green tomato for frying and pickling.

Opalescent Apple: •Introduced in 1894 by George Hudson of Schulz MI in Barry County as “Hudson’s Pride,” it was rebranded in 1899 by Ohio’s Dayton Star Nursery as “Opalescent.” Supremely flavorful dessert apple, with intense red color with white dots on the skin. Available now through several nurseries, including Fedco Trees. Does well in lower Michigan.

Conrath’s Black Raspberry: Developed in Ann Arbor in the late 1880s. “The largest Black Raspberry grown, Ten to Fifteen Days Earlier than Gred. Experiment Stations give it the Highest Rating. Will yield 200 bushels per acres on good ground. It roots penetrated the soil like those of a tree. The drought does not affect it in the least.” Not in the USDA GRIN. Extensively sold in the early 20^th century.Probably not extinct, but lost and still existing on the landscape

Potowatami Lima Bean. A Native landrace bean admired for its scarlet splotching. This is the most widely planted of the ancient beans of the upper Midwest. Seed is available from True Love Seeds and Nature & Nurture Seeds. One of the prizes of the oldest Michigan gardens.

Michigan won respect nationally for its improvement of various introduced strains of European vegetables. When it became a force in the cultivation of celery in the 1870s, Michigan won national sales for its produce for its Rose and Golden Self-Blanching varieties. The Detroit Dark Red Beet, introduced by Dexter Ferry in his 1894 catalog, the pinnacle of well-formed turnip footed red beets descended from the Oxblood Beet. It has been so widely grown in the last century and a quarter that it verged upon being a commodity variety.