🌱 Origin & Story
Sart Roloise was created in 2012 by Roland Boulanger in the village of Sart-Eustache, Belgium. The name is a portmanteau — "Sart" from the village, "Roloise" from Roland's name.
Boulanger crossed White Wonder, a creamy ivory beefsteak, with Baby Blue, a variety carrying anthocyanin shoulder genetics. The result was something neither parent could have predicted: a large bicolor fruit with luminous yellow-gold flesh marbled with pink and rose, capped by dusty lavender-blue shoulders that deepen in sunlight.
It took years of selection to stabilize the cross. What Boulanger ended up with is a tomato that combines the tropical sweetness of the best bicolors with an otherworldly appearance — cut one in half and it genuinely looks like stained glass.
The variety built a quiet following among European collectors before making the jump to North American seed catalogs. In 2026, Roger's Gardens and Tomatomania named it Tomato of the Year — a recognition that put Sart Roloise on the map for a much wider audience. It earned that title.
🍴 Flavor & Fruit
Large beefsteak, 10–20 oz — the exterior shows gold and pink with lavender-blue anthocyanin shoulders where sun hits the skin. Slice it open and the flesh is a watercolor of yellow, gold, pink, and rose. Every fruit is slightly different. Some lean more gold, some more pink. All of them are beautiful.
The flavor is where this variety truly separates itself. Intensely sweet with a tropical, almost pineapple-like quality — low acid, high sugar, with a richness that fills your whole mouth. There's a reason bicolor tomatoes dominate taste tests, and Sart Roloise is among the best of them.
Flesh is dense and meaty with relatively few seeds for a beefsteak this size. Excellent slicer.
🌿 From Our Garden
We trialed Sart Roloise the year before it won Tomato of the Year, and honestly, we already knew. The first one we sliced open stopped the whole crew — that color is not something a photograph prepares you for. The flavor sealed it. This is the variety we eat standing in the garden with a salt shaker in our back pocket.
📅 Your Oklahoma Season
Plant after mid-April, or May 1 for extra caution (last frost averages early April in Tulsa). These are big plants that need time — expect first flowers in June, first ripe fruit late July to early August. Large bicolors take their time. The patience pays off.
Strong harvests run through August and September. The season often extends into early November before first frost, and the fall flush on this variety is genuinely impressive as temperatures moderate.
Flower drop begins when daytime temps push above 85-90°F and nights stay above 72°F. It gets severe above 100°F. Large-fruited varieties feel this more than cherries — but Sart Roloise sets well once the heat breaks.
💧 Care for Optimal Health
These are big, heavy fruits on big, vigorous vines — they need consistent, deep watering. Twice a week at the base, never overhead. Mulch 2-3 inches to keep soil moisture stable and buffer temperature swings.
Feed balanced through vegetative growth, then shift to phosphorus/potassium-forward once flowering begins.
DIY mix: 2 tbsp fish emulsion + ½ tsp kelp per gallon, every two to three weeks.
Add calcium at planting — crushed eggshells or gypsum in the hole. Fruits this large are prime candidates for blossom end rot if calcium is short.
Good staking matters here. With fruit potentially exceeding a pound and vines that can reach 10 feet, you need support that won't fail in August. Heavy-gauge cages or tall, firmly set stakes.
☀️ Oklahoma Heat
Large bicolor fruits are more sensitive to sunscald than smaller, darker varieties. The light-colored skin doesn't have the same UV tolerance as a Cherokee Purple or a dark cherry. Protect the foliage canopy — especially on the west-facing side of the plant.
30-40% shade cloth during the worst heat weeks makes a real difference for a variety like this. Deep morning watering before the heat builds is more effective than evening watering.
🛡️ What to Watch For
No formal disease resistance ratings. As a stabilized open-pollinated cross, Sart Roloise relies on good cultural practices rather than bred-in resistance.
Stay ahead of these:
• Early blight — lower leaves in late summer. Remove affected leaves at the stem, don't compost them. Copper fungicide applied preventively after wet stretches (follow your product label for exact rates).
• Hornworms — check leaf undersides weekly. Hand-pick or apply Bt (1 tsp/gallon, evening spray).
• Aphids — 2 tbsp neem oil + 2 tsp dish soap per gallon.
• Blossom end rot — with fruit this large, calcium demand is high. Consistent watering and calcium at planting are essential.
• Cracking — bicolors with thin, light-colored skin are more crack-prone. Even moisture is your best defense.
🍽️ In the Kitchen
Fresh: This is a slicing tomato, full stop. Thick slabs with good salt and nothing else. The color on the plate is reason enough to serve it.
Caprese: Sart Roloise with fresh mozzarella and basil is a caprese that stops conversation. The gold-and-pink flesh against white cheese is stunning.
Stacked: Layer thick slices on toast with ricotta, honey, and black pepper. The sweetness of the tomato plays beautifully against the honey.
Presentation: If you grow tomatoes for farmers' markets, farm dinners, or just showing off at a potluck — this is your variety. Nothing else looks like this on a plate.
🪴 Why Our Starts?
Six weeks of professional growing before they reach you — proper lighting, careful watering, the right timing, hardening off. A Tomato of the Year variety like Sart Roloise is hard to find as seed, let alone as a healthy transplant ready for your garden.
You plant when the ground is ready and skip straight to the growing season.
