North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

I wonder if the people at Oregon State have really invented something different, or if they are unaware that there are already plenty of "purple" tomatoes being grown.  Typically they are a mixture of red and green pigments, but some are really quite dark. 

   

     I did a sort of statistical analysis of comments on the "purple" and "black" tomatoes in SSE listings, and what I noted is that the people giving the rave reviews are all up north.  I suspect that the heat generated in the fruit by the sun increases ripening so they taste more like our ordinary tomatoes do in the hot southern summers.  Purple tomatoes sunscald in the south, which is probably one reason they don't seem all that popular down here.    Donna