Vegetable story: The Mémé de Beauce tomato

Tomato Meme by beauce_bandeau
No, that's not the nice nickname given to the old lady who grew them since her childhood. In fact, there is no old lady in the story of Mémé de Beauce!

La discovery of this variety is the result of chance. In 1995, while renovating an old abandoned family home, a man named Lessard sees a packet of seeds under the attic floor. The exterior of another era betrayed the advanced age of the few 300 seeds who was there.

Curious, the said Lessard entrusted his treasure to Gérald Parent, then very involved within the organization. Heritage seed company.

He hastens to sow a few seeds in the ground; nothing rises. So he tries to make some germinate between two damp paper towels; 3 seedlings emerge !

Specialists' verdict

Once the plants are planted, Gérald Parent passes the stick to Antoine D'Avignon, technician at Agriculture Canada and great defender of plant biodiversity.

Analyzes carried out on the plants do not make it possible to identify the strain, but confirm its ancestral origins. In the opinion of the person who removed them from the attic floor, the seeds would have slept there for several decades!

Antoine D'Avignon collected seeds which he shared with seed growers and other enthusiasts so that this local Quebec tomato could come back to life.

And the tomato?

Of course, for the story to be worth telling, the fruits produced by our 3 survivors had to be up to the task... mission accomplished!  

Each of these huge pink-red tomatoes can weigh up to 1 kg! With such a weight on the stems, they must be supported so as not to break.

Flesh fleshy is protected by a skin so thin that it cracks easily when ripe; This problem is avoided by picking the fruits before they are perfectly ripe.

And when they are good ripe, their content in jus is such that they transform into sauce and coulis effortlessly !

Also, the imposing waistline of the Mémé allows you to use only one slice per sandwich.

But the most important thing remains incomparable flavor which is both sweet and slightly tangy. A real treat !

The growing plant indeterminate reaches between 1,2 and 2 m in height during Quebec's short growing season. As with all large tomatoes, the fruits arrive at late maturity (80-100 days).

Why Mémé then?

As Lac-Saint-Jean is full of Tremblays, Beauce has its countless Lessards. In reality, the multitude of Lessard lines in Beauce makes each one respond to a 2e name ; our discoverer of tomato seeds belongs to the Mémé lineage!

I want this tomato!

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📅 Thursday, July 31 and Friday, August 1, 2025

It's time for the big annual countdown!
Our team is busy counting seeds (and keeping track 😅).

The online store and the horticultural store will be
therefore closed during these two days.

We'll see you from Saturday morning
Thank you for your patience 💚