What is an “Heirloom” seed?

Basically, an heirloom seed comes from the old, genetically "un-altered" plant varieties which reproduce through open-pollination. This means the plant, whether vegetable, fruit or flower, comes true to type from seed through succeeding generations. With the aid of wind, rain and/or pollinating insects, these heirloom plants "set" their seed naturally. Although opinions among experts may vary about the required age for a plant to be considered an heirloom, most people define heirloom varieties as those that are at least 50 years old. However, many well known vintage varieties date back 100 years or more, and some may even have several centuries of history.

Many heirloom plants are native varieties, but some were brought to the United States by immigrants. Over the years, different varieties of heirloom seed have been saved by a single family or maybe a group of people, like Native American Indians for example. Sometimes the individual histories of a seed are well-known, other times the background is vague and referred to as a legend. In any event, knowing the history of a particular variety can add to the enjoyment of growing and eating it.

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What is a “Hybrid?”

Unlike heirloom seed, the more modern hybrids are produced as the result of cross-breeding two parents of different genetic makeup. This is similar to breeding a male donkey (jack) to a female horse (mare), in order to get a mule. A mule is a hybrid, bred for favorable characteristics of both of these species of quadraped, however, a mule cannot reproduce another mule.

Just like the mule, cross-bred hybrids can not reproduce true-to-type. Instead, hybrid seeds are highly variable and are not desirable for saving and replanting. With greater world-wide demand for food, hybrids were originally developed for commercial food production because of their high yields, uniformity of size and wide adaptability. In addition, these hybrid vegetables ripen in a shorter period of time and often have a tougher skin, allowing them to be shipped great distances. The ability of the hybrids to remain in cold storage for extended periods of time is another favorable characteristic desired among commercial growers.

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Open-pollinated Versus Hybrid

Today's hybrids were actually developed to "counteract" some of the qualities of heirlooms such as the tender skin of the heirlooms (which caused them to bruise easily). Heirlooms also have a shorter shelf life and may have a less-than-perfect form and shape. Through the bio-engineering of hybrids, the beefing up of certain characteristics, such as tougher skins and longer storage life, meant a corresponding decrease in other traits. The main characteristic of the older heirloom varieties that modern hybrids have yet to approach, is flavor.  Heirlooms simply taste much better than the newer "man-made" varieties can hope to. This is why today's supermarket tomatoes, even though uniform in size and color, may have the consistency and corresponding taste of a tennis ball.

A very important factor to remember, is that hybrid seed must also be purchased new, year after year. This creates a dependence upon commercial seed producers and "big brother" organizations for our seed, thus eliminating our freedom to determine what we choose to eat. Saving and replanting open-pollinated heirloom seed prolongs our liberty to control our choice of food and nutrition. With genetically modified organisms (GMO's) and experimental bio-engineering in our food supply, this could prove to be the most important difference.

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