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Showing Original Post only (View all)How A Seed Saver (DU's own NRaleighLiberal) Discovered One Of Our Favorite Tomatoes [View all]
Last edited Thu Jul 31, 2014, 09:17 PM - Edit history (1)
Marta and I had our first Cherokee Purple Tomato tonight. Organically grown and delicious! It came from here: http://www.iowanafarm.com/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/12/211372152/how-a-seed-saver-discovered-one-of-our-favorite-tomatoes
A Cherokee purple tomato grown in Alaska in 2011.
by ELIZA BARCLAY August 14, 201312:31 PM ET
Sherry Shiesl Tatiana's TOMATObase
Fortunately for those of us who are suckers for novelty, every year fruits and vegetables seem to come in more bewitching colors, shapes and flavors. Lately, we've been tickled by the cotton candy grape and the vibrant orange Turkish eggplant. (Egg yolks can be ghostly white, too, but that's another story.)
If you go to the farmers market this time of year, tomatoes are strutting their stuff in all sorts of glorious and quirky hues: green striped, white, pink, even purplish-brown. They boast intriguing names, like Mortgage Lifter, Arkansas Traveler and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye. Some are true heirlooms, passed down over decades or centuries. Others are brand new to the world, the progeny of the latest cross-breeding experiments.
We got to wondering just who, besides farmers, is to thank for this expanding panoply. And we learned that while there are many professional breeders tinkering with the desirable traits that show up in the new varieties, amateur breeders passionate seed savers and collectors also play a vital role in discovering fruit and vegetable varieties guarded and nurtured by families over generations. Every now and then, these amateurs convince seed companies that the rest of the world will want to enjoy something they've discovered.
Craig LeHoullier, a retired chemist from Raleigh, N.C., can take credit for introducing us to the Cherokee Purple tomato, one of the most popular heirlooms grown and sold today. You'd be forgiven if your first impression of this fruit, with its ungainly bulges and tones of brown, green and purple, was dismissive. But its flavor consistently knocks socks off, with its balance of sweet, acid and savory even a hint of smoke.
FULL story at link.
Be sure and say thanks to NRaleighLiberal for doing this.
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How A Seed Saver (DU's own NRaleighLiberal) Discovered One Of Our Favorite Tomatoes [View all]
Omaha Steve
Jul 2014
OP
You know what's odd - when I first grew it in Pennsylvania, it was very good -
NRaleighLiberal
Aug 2014
#33
Didn't create it - it was sent to me as an unnamed variety with a brief history
NRaleighLiberal
Jul 2014
#10
Fellow who mailed me the seeds said it was a variety given to his neighbors
NRaleighLiberal
Jul 2014
#21
My father was reknown in his Pawtucket RI neighborhood for his Cherokee Purples!
NRaleighLiberal
Jul 2014
#22