ZELIENOPLE — Great-grandma’s iron is an heirloom. So is great great-granddad’s handmade lantern. They both come with stories attached that may have been embellished by time and telling.

But how about the tomatoes those ancestors grew? The seeds came to this country stuck to the backs of postage stamps to get past customs inspectors. Are they heirlooms, too? Are the stories of the quaint tastiness that resulted true?

The answers are yes and yes: Seeds of truth can be found in these tomatoes and family tales. And neither is genetically altered.

Liza Thornton, presenter of a segment on heirloom tomatoes recently at the Glade Run Gardens Spring Symposium, called the heirloom varieties “living artifacts” and good eating as well.

The best part is, heirloom tomatoes aren’t beyond retrieval. They could be served for dinner this summer, but you better start growing them now because they probably aren’t available in supermarket stalls.

Hybrid tomatoes, the kind usually available year round in your neighborhood grocery, have been genetically altered for many reasons, including a more consistent yield, ripening time, uniform appearance and extended shelf life. They are often disease and pest resistant and ship well.

If you want to eat a fully ripened, great tasting tomato that’s green or purple, with stripes and streaks, lumps and bumps, or goes by the names “Banana Legs” and “Mortgage Lifter,” most likely you’re going to have to grow it yourself.The thinner skin and more delicate flesh that make the heirloom varieties scrumptious require more careful handling, not exactly terms for extended shipping.In Thornton’s opinion, darker-skinned heirloom tomatoes are more acidic tasting than the yellow ones, and reds are sweeter than greens.They make great-tasting salsa, and the more colorful varieties used in the mix, the more pleasant to look at as well as eat.Thornton recommended using both Yellow Pear and Green Zebra in salsa.There’s even an heirloom tomato called White Wonder, white of skin and flesh and with a very high sugar content. White Wonder is meant to be that way, as opposed to some hybrids available at the supermarket that look red and delicious on the outside, but are disappointingly white and tasteless on the inside when you cut them.Heirloom tomatoes are available for just about all climates and growing seasons, according to Thornton.For cooler temperatures and early fruiting, she recommended Alaska Fancy and Glacier with a 55-day growing season. The Arkansas Traveler tomato is perfect for hot and humid climates and has an 85-day growing season.Among the heirloom varieties, Thornton, former director of horticulture at Phipps Conservatory, favors Yellow Pear-shaped tomatoes and ones named Green Zebra because they are, well, green and striped like a zebra. Banana Legs look like — you guessed it — bananas.

Since it’s best to start tomato seeds indoors eight to 10 weeks before the last frost, in this area May 15, it’s a little late now — but not too late.“Planting out a couple of weeks late should still be OK,” said Aaron Whaley of Seeds Savers Exchange, an organization dedicated to collecting, growing and maintaining heirloom varieties of vegetables and flowers.Seed Savers is also currently sending out heirloom tomato plants with shipping dates into mid-May. Six heirloom tomato plants will cost you about $25, including shipping, but that can be six different varieties.“Our best sellers are Brandywine, German Pink, Cherokee Purple and Speckled Roman,” said Whaley.Brandywine tomatoes, from yellow to black, were a product of Amish farmers in Chester County.Many heirlooms besides German Pink hail from Germany. Italy is the jumping-off place for many varieties. Cherokee Purples were originally cultivated by farmers of the Cherokee nation. Black Krim, Black Plum and Black Prince hail from the Crimea, a republic of the Ukraine.Brenckle’s Production Greenhouse in Connoquenessing Township is trying out about 10 heirloom tomato varieties, including the Brandywine, for the first time this year.“We try to specialize in things for gardeners who are out for production, and heirlooms aren’t really for that but we’re trying them,” said owner Gary Brenckle. “People who want them, love them. We’ll find out this year if people are really into it.”Since Brenckle’s has already started 250 to 300 seeds of each heirloom variety they’re offering, their heirloom seedlings will be available May 15, in case you haven’t started any at home yet. The regular tomato seedlings will be ready May 1, for those gardeners who want to get a jump on growing regular varieties and don’t mind covering their outdoor plants in case of frost.Heirloom tomato seeds offered in the United States today started their journeys in France, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Most came over on the boat, hitching a ride with immigrants in search of a better life. Or in the case of some from Poland, clinging to a postage stamp.

What makes an heirloom tomato worthy of the name?They are always open-pollinated varieties, meaning saved seeds will produce the same tomato year after year, unlike hybrids.They should be unchanged for at least 50 years, and 100 years is better.They have a past. Most heirloom varieties have been handed down, from generation to generation of backyard gardeners. There's a reason for the name assigned to them or an oral history worth sharing.For instance, "Mortgage Lifter" came from the garden of a Depression era farmer. He collected seeds from a tomato he liked and grew it with both horticultural and financial success.His $1 per tomato was well received by the public and with a yield of 1,000 tomatoes per acre, he made enough money to pay off the mortgage on his property.