I wanted to discuss this separately from another topic with a similar subject.
Fellow tomato-growers… I have you found a purple tomato that tastes good?
I grew Indigo Rose and wasn’t impressed, I also found it a bit chewy.
Edit, because there seems to be some confusion… Purple = Contains anthocyanins
Edit again, to adjust the title
I pretty much tried all the purple heirloom at rareseeds. Black Krim, carbon, cherokee purple, paul robeson, fejee improved, brandywine. IMO they all tasted delicious and better than red but they all split so much, I gave up on purple
None of those are purple flesh tomatoes, and none of them have split when grown here.
Purple Zebra F1 is realy sweet. But its cracking very fast.
My parents insist that I start some black krim for them every year. It’s their #1 favorite tomato, and they’ve been growing tomatoes since the 60’s. It does much better growing in their Carroll County red clay soil than in my pampered raised beds. I quit growing it myself for lack of production but its totally different in their garden.
Black Krim is my favorite here.
I just want to clarify - I’d like for this thread to focus on purple (anthocyanin) tomatoes - not black tomatoes.
From what I can find on the internet, Indigo Rose is the only “true” purple. I haven’t grown it so maybe someone who has can tell you if theirs tasted good.
Richard, you’re the expert
There are about 100 different lines of anthocyanin tomatoes available today if you know where to look. All suffer from flavor issues associated with anthocyanin accumulation. All lack sweetness with one exception. Blueberry Sugar is a high anthocyanin tomato that has enough sugar to somewhat balance the anthocyanin. It is not released and/or publicly available. It won’t set any flavor records, but is arguably better than most high anthocyanin varieties.
Is it possible to breed a good flavored high anthocyanin tomato? The jury is still out on this question. I am 100% certain that we can breed better flavored tomatoes than any currently available. I’m not convinced we can get flavor as good as a really good red tomato such as Lynnwood or Nepal.
The title of the thread should be changed also, it can be confusing.
I had to look back at previous orders - turns out I grew Indigo Cherry Drop instead of Indigo Rose. Notice how flavor and texture aren’t mentioned at all? Ha! (I didn’t know any better then.)
I remember last year I almost ordered Indigo Kumquat thinking - “well, they at least mention a flavor…” I ultimately decided not to because I remembered how tough/chewy the Indigo Cherry Drops were.
Now, I haven’t been paying close attention, but while doing other tomato shopping I noticed other purplep/anthocyanin tomatoes listed in other catalogues. They mostly seem to be “cherry” size. The more I think on it though, cherry-size seems less than ideal for this type of tomato? I don’t know how others feel, but cherry tomatoes to me are a snack… a bright pop of tomato flavor. If it’s going to be flavorless and chewy, it’s not going to make a great cherry tomato.
If you’re looking for additional options, Brad Gates sells seed for a number of unusual tomatoes at his Wild Boar Farms website. Many appear to be high in anthocyanin.
Jim Myers at OSU developed the first “blue” tomatoes and provided seed to a few breeders about 2005. I requested seed and grew his “P20” blue tomato. I took a photo and linked it on wiki. Blue tomato - Wikipedia
The traits that cause high expression of anthocyanin include weak foliage cover so more sunlight gets to the fruit. Note the leaves in the picture on the wiki.
I have seed of Blueberry Sugar started. I’ll check to see if I have enough seed and may offer a few here.
Why do you want to grow them? Is it because of this Vitamin A liver toxicity theory some people talk about? Just for fun?
I ate a lot of tomatoes last year and plan to grow some purple ones this year for flavor in the GH. I don’t understand much reason to grow these black ones if they don’t taste good though other than to avoid Vit A. I grow plenty of other fruits high in anthocyanins like black currants, blueberries, plums, i’d even go for purple cabbage… Curious to hear the reasoning.
As they say, “eat the rainbow”.
But, yeah, I grow things because I find them fun or interesting.