|
|
|
 |
|
The familiar red that Americans associate with tomatoes is only one of the many colors of this delightful fruit. From pale white ones, very popular with the Victorians, to black and other unfamiliar colors as well. Perhaps the most surprising are the green when ripe ones, which are spicy and sweet. Tomatoes which hale from Russia and its environs are often deep mahogany or brick red tending towards a blackish purple. For those unfamiliar with this coloration, they may be afraid to try it, however the richness of the flavor wins over all who taste them. Be sure to have a look at the Belarusian/Ukrainian/Russian Tomato page as well for more selections of Other Colors of tomatoes. |
 |
|
All seed packs are $2.50 each
|
| CLICK ON EACH SMALL PHOTO TO SEE A MUCH LARGER VERSION OF THAT PHOTO - USE "BACK BUTTON" TO COME BACK TO THIS PAGE.
|
Click to Add
Global Priority Shipping Charges
|
|
CLICK HERE to view Currently Unavailable items:
• CHEROKEE PURPLE TOMATO
• OLIVER'S GERMAN WHITE/WEISSE TOMATO
• EMERALD EVERGREEN or EVERGREEN
|
|
|
Black, Purple Tomatoes |
 CARBON TOMATO ~A Perfect Black~
I had heard of Carbon for several years, and I have a liking for the traditionally rich flavor of black tomatoes. So I figured I would give it a try. Carbon was a nearly perfect midsized tomato that came in mid season and kept up nicely all season long. It grew on not out of hand vines that hardly needed staking. The really great thing about this tomato, was that unlike many of the dark hued ones, this one had great perfect mostly round fruit with little or no catfacing or cracks. Fruits were mostly 8 to 12 ounces with some getting larger, as in the photo. I really liked this one , nice and prolific. A great one to add to your "black" collection.
10 fresh organically raised seeds.
|
 TIM'S "BLACK RUFFLES" TOMATO LIMITED QUANTITIES~ORDER EARLY! - My friend Tim M. has a degree in botany and ecology, and worked under the tutelage of famous gardener, writer and foodways scholar, William Woys Weaver, (author of many books including my favorite : "Heirloom Vegetable Gardening"). Tim experimented for years with this fantastic tomato cross. After several seasons he stabilized it and he gave me a few plants and I grew them out this summer. They are the deepest shiny garnet purple and very "ruffled" or "pleated" as its called in tomato nomenclature. This is his stable cross of 2 great tomatoes: Black Krim and Zapotec Pink Pleated. In this great new tomato, you get an even deeper purple color from its black parent and the fabulous ruffled shape from its wild Mexican Zapotec heritage. Black Krim is described by Seed Saver's Exchange thus : "BLACK KRIM: Deep dark purplish black skin with brick red flesh. Unusual rich smoky flavor, very intense. An early and heavy producer. From the Black Sea region of Russia. Introduced by Lars Olov Rosenstrom of Bromma, Sweden through the Seed Savers Exchange in 1990."
Here is how I describe the other parent tomato, my ZAPOTEC PINK PLEATED : " Very Rare ~ Traditional Heirloom ~ My seed came originally from the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Zapotecs, who live remotely in the high dry mountains of Mexico, call these "tomate enrrollado rojo". This is a real showstopper tomato! These unusual sweet, mild, fruits are large and pink with ruffles like a pleated dress. ! Its pleated shape makes it very ornamental. Wonderful sliced to show off its pretty scalloped edges. They can be stuffed and baked like a bell pepper or delicious served raw in salads. About 1/2 pound each or more. Yields are prolific. I truly believe these are the most ornamental tomatoes you can grow".
The result of Tim's breeding work is this wondrous new variety, which he calls "Black Ruffles". Great sweet ,smoky taste, and a saturated lacquered color like no other tomato. Prolific yields and one of the few tomatoes that did not suffer from this past wet, rainy season. It kept pumping out these unusually lovely fruit until hard frost. The only other tomato to even come close to this deep purple color is the elusive "Purple Calabash" which I also sell.
-These seeds are not available anywhere else! You can only buy them from me on my website.If you live near Lancaster, PA, Tim will be selling seedling plants of his tomato next spring at the " Landis Valley Museum Herbe Faire".
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds
|
NYAGOUS BLACK TOMATO~ Here is the most unusual "black" tomato I have grown out. Not really black, more of a darkish brick red color with a strange, almost glowing, emerald green undertone. Absolutely the first "black" type I have grown that is not prone to catfacing ( spiral cracks) or cracking. Each fruit was flawless! I was told it would be grayish in coloring but did not experience that. My seed stock is originally from Dr. Jeff Nekola, via the famous German tomato collector and expert, Reinhard Kraft. Unfortunately, I do not know what country this great tomato is really from, because I wasn't given any more information. The 4- 6 ounce fruits grow on tresses or clusters. Very productive. But you do have to watch that you collect the fruit before it gets too ripe, since there is no indication of ripeness by color. I lost alot of fruit to over ripening. Nice smokey flavor typical of the "black" type tomatoes. Rare new import. 15 of my own fresh organically grown seeds
|
 PURPLE CALABASH TOMATO
About 10 years ago a savvy gardening friend spoke of the "ugliest but best tasting tomato he'd ever eaten". He and I have searched for this "holy grail" of tomatoes all these years and I finally found it and grew it out this season. It is the "Purple Calabash". It has the most deeply colored, true deep purple fruit I have ever seen. Small 3" pumpkin shaped fruit with deep ribs smother the vines. It has a very deep purple interior as well, with a strange forest green
jell. The complex flavor is hard to describe, almost like a fruity merlot wine. You have never tasted such a rich, unworldly,
"untomato-ey" tomato.
 Just fabulous flavor and so showy in the garden. People spotted its dark fruits right away and asked about them. Finally you too can have this rare, rich gem. I think this may be my new favorite tomato. 10 fresh organically grown seeds.
|
 BLACK BRANDYWINE TOMATO
This black version of the legendary heirloom Brandywine Tomato has fruit with the same luscious flavor of Pink Brandywine combined with the deep, creamy richness of classic black tomato taste. it has the same flattened beefsteak shape and alightly smaller size as Brandywine, but this fruit is more like the color of deep brick mahogany. Tomatoes are 8 to 14 oz. and grow on vigorous plants. I grew out 3 varieties of black tomatoes this season and these had by far the best taste and bigger size to boot. They get darker in color the cooler the weather is. 15 of my own fresh organically grown seeds
|
| White Tomatoes
|
"FANTOME DU LAOS" ~ "GHOST OF LAOS" ~Exceedingly Rare-only commercial source in USA!~
I am so excited about this super rare southeast Asian Tomato. I got my seeds in a seed trade with a Belgium collector and this is the rough translation of what he wrote to me in French about this tomato:
"Old variety originating from Laos, large fruits white-yellowish slightly flattened. Very vigorous and very productive plant (it is most productive which we cultivated this year!). Excellent resistance to the diseases. Sweet flavour. There is a strange legend about this variety: the nights of full moon, the villagers deposit it on the edges of the windows and if the tomato becomes fluorescent, a ghost is not far!"
I love this ghostly apparition tale . The Asians, however think of the souls of their dearly departed as ghosts, in a good way. This story is really about how a dead relative comes back to visit. It is not about haunting as you might think.
 The tomato itself had so much to recommend it besides this cool legend. It was my earliest tomato this season, even beating out my Ukrainian and Russian plants! It was a full 2 weeks earlier to ripen than any tomato in my garden. And it was huge, and had a really unbelievable coloration. It literally was an opalescent white and truly seemed to glow! It was impossible to photograph that quality of light coming from the fruit. They are the most gorgeous white tomatoes I have ever grown with not one bit of pink on them ,all pure ivory white.
They tended to put out double fruits as well. And it kept on sending out these lovely orbs of light all season long. It lasted until light frost. Great, sweet, mild flavor and virtually no acid. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only one offering these seeds for sale in the USA. I never saw any white tomatoes in my travels through southeast Asia. I was in Thailand, Cambodia. Malaysia, and so forth and never saw any fruits but small squatty red or pink ones. This tomato is rare even in its home country. Be the first to grow this super scarce white heirloom. 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.
|
MIKADO WHITE TOMATO ~ VERY RARE ~
also known as "Shah" tomato. William Woys Weaver, the famous writer and food historian, refers to this tomato, in his delightful little book 100 Vegetable and Where They Come From , as sport of "Turner's Hybrid" or "Mikado" dating back to 1886. It is sometimes referred to as the "White Brandywine " due to its fabulous flavor. The name Mikado refers to the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that was popular at that time. It has grey green potato leaf shaped leaves on a small and sturdy vine. The flesh is white with a pale yellow interior and sometimes has a small pale pink star on the blossom end. Some of my fruit did and others were pure white. This makes a good drying tomato with a great flavor that intensifies when it dries but it is also very sweet and delicious when eaten for salads.Try white tomatoes like this one on a mixed plate of rainbow colors for a great dish sure to impress. Make a real white tomato spaghetti sauce too. Like all white tomatoes there is low acid content. Be the first in your area to grow this very rare white tomato. You will love to tell its story, and it makes a great gift for an opera lover. Please be sure to see my "Mikado Pink Tomato " listed at the top of my Pink Tomato Page. 10+ of my own fresh organically grown seeds.
|
 LITTLE WHITE RABBIT TOMATO
- also called "White Rabbit Tomato ". This just might be the sweetest name ever for the cutest tiny white tomato I have grown. These teensy babies were nearly exactly the same size as my "White Mexican Currant Tomato".They were about the size of large peas ( 3/4 " or less ). I would have called them a wild currant type by their size, but they are were actually developed by Joe Bratka of NJ. Fabulous uniquely flavored fruits taste quite tropical and sweet. The flavor is so wonderful that they are truly addicting ,so it is lucky that they are so prolific and productive . So you will have enough to keep eating all you want to. The plant grows rather low to the ground and resisted staking no matter how much I tried, maybe planting by a fence would a good solution. More of a creamy very pale yellow color than a true pure white.They were the very last of my tomatoes to succumb to frost this season.
10+ of my own fresh organically grown seeds.
|
 SNOWBALL TOMATO
This was the very first heirloom tomato I ever grew. At the time, years back, I was fascinated that a white tomato even existed. I just had to have it.It is hardly ever offered for sale anymore, so I just grew it out again for new seeds this season. I currently offer 7 types of white tomatoes now, and each are so very different from each other. Snowball will always have a special place in my heart though. It has rather large and somewhat flattened 1/2 pound fruit and really did well this season for me. I was one of the last of the tomatoes to succumb to the frost and it was the only tomato that made it through a very bad hailstorm ( fortunately late in the season in late September) with marble sized pices of hail! All the other tomatoes bit the dust in one day. I never saw such devastation. It was very prolific even when "attacked" by my "Italian Annelino Pole Beans". Very white skin and flesh, the second whitest tomato I have ever grown. Very mild taste that is good for those who are allergic to tomatoes and need low acid foods.
10+ of my own fresh organically grown seeds.
|
 WHITE TOMESOL
- I have always had a fondness for white tomatoes, but many are just plain bland. This newly rediscovered heirloom is fabulous! It has a wonderful fragrance, and for taste it is way up on my "tomato-taste-o-meter". Sweet , and creamy rich with great flavor, especially for a white fruit. These are not as pure white, as some of my other white tomato selections. They are more on the creamy pale yellow side of white and tend to have a pretty pink blossom end when ripe. You are sure to want these pretty, pale, blushing beauties in your garden. The superb flavor and low acidity more than makes up for their lack of pure white color.Personally, I think these smallish, 8 oz. tomatoes are just beautiful. The plant grows to a reasonable size , with heavy yields, but doesn't get out of control like many tomato vines. It is indeterminate, which means it sets its lovely fruit all season. 15 of my own fresh organically grown seeds
|
 WHITE
CURRANT TOMATO - This is a species or wild type of tomato from Mexico. The fruit is very tiny, currant style, creamy-white, with skins having a slightly yellow tint. This is the sweetest tomato I have ever grown. It has superb flavor, even better than than my "Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato", which I thought couldn't be beat! The fruit grow in clusters, and the yield was absolutely amazing! I had more than I could pick right up to a mild frost. Nothing stopped them. They will self seed, so you only have to plant them once. They look great climbing over a fence, very long vines. If you can't grow tomatoes where you live, try these, they are that easy. 20 fresh seeds.
|
 GREAT WHITE TOMATO
These big beefsteaks are perfect, large up to 1 lb+. Great White has large white-cream fruit, and is superbly wonderful. The flesh is deliciously fruity, it reminds me of a mixture of fresh cut, pineapple, melon and guava.
Unlike other white tomatoes this has no pink markings on the blossom end. This is the second whitest tomato I have grown. This is one of my new favorite fresh eating tomatoes and I grow about 20 kinds each year. It is also, hands down, the best tasting white tomato I have ever eaten. Fruit are smoother than most large beefsteak types and yields are very high. This tomato is so lovely and unlike other white tomatoes it really has standout flavor! Each one was perfect, no catfacing or cracks.
10+ of my organically grown seeds.
|
| Green
Tomatoes |
 SPEAR'S TENNESSEE GREEN - This is, hands down, the best green-when-ripe tomato I have ever tasted! I just love green tomatoes and this one is my new favorite. It is spicy and sweet, but also has that amazingly tomato-ey flavor that you expect in an old fashioned red tomato, certainly not in a green one. (please see first photo) . They turn a wonderful lime green yellow when ripe.  They have a lovely radiating pink striped blossom end over the green when super ripe. I have never seen this formation in any other green style tomato. (please see second photo of very ripe fruit) This is an heirloom that has been preserved by the Spear family of Tennessee for over 50 years, and with good reason! What a great tomato. Huge 10 oz. to over 1 lb size, they just covered the vines all season long. Be sure to keep checking them daily, as with all green-when-ripe tomatoes, it is easy to miss them at their perfection. You really need to touch the fruit to feel its ripeness, although the yellowing ends do indicate its nearly ready. Give this unusual and rare, historic, heirloom green tomato a try, you are sure to be a convert to green-when-ripe tomato types. I was worried it might not be happy this far north,( zone 6 ) but I had scads of large fruit on the vines, and heavy yields right up to hard frost. 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds
|
--top
|
|
| |
|
