Help with ID used to be Olympic Flame

[remy]

Hi a local customer wrote to me the following:
"Years ago (over a decade) he grew a huge, beefsteak-type red
and yellow bicolor named "Old Flame" that he had ordered
from Shepherd's. I remember it being one of the most
juicy, delicious tomatoes I've ever eaten as a child.
Apparently, the catalogue had originally listed it as
"Olympic Flame," but the name was changed to "Old Flame"
when the Olympic committee filed a dispute. We grew it
for two or three years, and then the seeds became
unavailable. We've been trying to track them down ever
since! I went so far as to contact Renee Shepherd, and
ordered a variety called Marvel Stripe through her site that
she recommended as similar. Unfortunately, they
weren't the mysterious Old Flame we'd been searching
for--they were much more yellow and less shot through with
red, heavily ribbed, and not juicy at all (dad and I each
grew our own plants and had similar results)."

Did anyone grow this variety Olympic Flame is is Old Flame now offered by other companies?
Thanks,
Remy

[dpurdy]

Remy,
I did a little searching and found that the tomato that you're looking for, which you know by Olympic Flame is also known as the Hillbilly tomato. I'm not sure if it's the one that your looking for. I've attached a link to Baker Creek Seeds that has your Olympic Flame. http://www.rareseeds.com/hillbilly-or-flame-to/
I hope that helps.
dpurdy

p.s. After doing a little more reading about the Olympic Flame, I'm not quite sure if the Hillbilly tomato is the same as the Olympic Flame. They both seem to be very similar in color and size but not quite sure if it's the same one that you're looking for. You be the judge. My favorite bi-color tomato is Big Rainbow which is very similar to what your looking for. I'm sure that your familiar with that one.

[mr340]

hi, I was able to find Flame tomato seeds a few years ago at Skyfire seeds. I grew these probably 15 or 20 years ago. They are not the same as Hillbilly. I always save the seeds and have a small amount left that I could possibly share.

[remy]

I was in a hurry this morning and only looked at Tatiana's listing and there is no fruit pic, history etc., But I did more searching and actually found an old post from here where Carolyn wrote this, "And I've posted many times here about what you just wrote, saying that I don't know who first added the word Flame to Hillbilly, they are NOT the same, and going through in GREAT detail the progression from Shepherd's seeds offering Olympic Flame and the Olympic Comm saying they couldn't do that so they changed that to Old Flame and that kind of morphed into just Flame."

[simmran1]

Hi Remy,

The other day I was looking for a pepper at Reimers; got side tracked to tomato listings, it happens; and noticed they sell seeds of Flame and Hillbilly. Their photos show a difference, (though anybody's guess how accurate they are).

Greta's Organic has Old Flame and a red called Olympic. Maybe a tomato named Olympic is ok, but Olympic Flame is crossing the line. Maybe her Old Flame is the one you're searching for.- Randy

[carolyn137]

I'm posting quickly since I had to go back to the hospital and now home on complete bed rest, see thread in GD, and can onlypost if someone is here near me.

I've posted about Olympic Flame, etc., many times, many many times.

Rene Shepherd did introduce Olympic Flame, which was a selection made by Patty Byzinski at Seeds by Design in CA so they could give it a new name.

And yes, The Olympic Comm said they couldn't use that name, so it was changed to Old Flame, same tomato, new name. But in the meantime, both names were in use which caused lots of confusion.

Then I did a booboo when I send seeds of Jaune Flammee to linda at TGS and forgot to write the Juane, so she listed it one time as Flammee and another time as just Flame.

Obviously Jaune Flammee/ Flame is not a gold red bicolor so there shouldn't be any confusions there.

Finally, IMO there's nothing special about Olympic Flame/Old Flame, just another gold/red bicolor, and yes, I grew it.

Now that I think about it I do think that some ended up calling Flame as well.

And NO, Hillbilly is not any of the above, just another one of the several gold/red bicolors.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

[Andrey_BY]

There is also an Olimpiyskiy Ogon tomato (=Olympic Flame in Russian) existed.
But it is quite modern Russian CV, indet.RL with large tricolor (pink-yellow-orange) 300-800 g beefsteak fruit, juicy and sweety from Poisk seed company.

[Ann123]

That is a gorgeous tomato!