North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <gardendiva@charter.net>]

Jim Furth's anecdotes are very interesting and support my experiences.

I've grown heirloom tomatoes for over 15 years and learned that the black 
ones from Russia have the most complex flavors....like fine wines.  Their 
dusky purple or chestnut skins and meat are gorgeous in my opinion, but not 
for most people.  The acid-sweet balance of flavors with numerous undertones 
such as salt, lemon or even clover are exquisite.  But....it's almost 
impossible to convince the average consumer to taste a slice to experience 
such gastronomic heaven.

Case in point.  I grew Southern Nights, a large determinate black tomato 
with potato-leaf foliage, successfully in So. Texas, which is a very 
difficult environment.  You plant in Feb., complete harvest by June 1 
(nights are too hot for blossom set after that) and fight blights and stink 
bugs that deface fruits.  Southern Nights sets heavily all at once (about 80 
fruits ranging from 10-16 oz. per plant) and ripens the crop within a 
two-week window in late May.  I produced a large quantity of seed so that 
Dr. Jerry Parsons of Texas A&M could experiment with it at the TAMU farms in 
Uvalde, TX where they develop market crops for the Rio Grande Valley farm 
industry.  IMHO, Southern Nights could be a huge hit with consumers and 
bring premium prices for farmers--especially since they could sell them up 
North in mid May.

Jerry planted 2 acres of Southern Nights plants from my seeds.  The crop was 
fantastic, and he was very excited.  Then....reality bit.  He brought in all 
the commercial growers, had them sample the tomatoes and evaluate the market 
potential.  Everyone said they wouldn't grow it for two reasons.  No one 
would eat such an ugly tomato (half of the growers refused to taste the 
fruits) and the tomatoes were not perfectly round, which meant that they 
couldn't get as many in a carton as with hybrids with perfect shape.

Draw your own conclusions.  Mine was that I will continue to save seeds and 
grown my own forever.  I've also developed an OP cross from a black tomato 
and a green heirloom.  I've stablilized it to the F4 so far.  But, I have no 
illusions about a seed company ever selling it.  Consumers won't buy my 
tomato and will miss out on a terrific new flavor and a gorgeous fruit.
Doreen Howard