AN·THO·CY·A·NIN
ˌanTHəˈsīənən/
noun
CHEMISTRY
- a blue, violet, or red flavonoid pigment found in plants
- In flowers, the coloration that is provided by anthocyanin accumulation can attract a wide variety of animal pollinators
- Anthocyanins have an antioxidant role in plants against reactive oxygen species caused by abiotic stresses, such as overexposure to ultraviolet light and extreme temperatures. Tomato plants protect against cold stress with anthocyanins countering reactive oxygen species, leading to a lower rate of cell death in leaves
CHERRY TOMATOES
BRAD’S ATOMIC GRAPE
These elongated, multi-colored, large cherries grow in clusters. Lavender and purple-striped when immature, turning to green, red / brown with anthocyanin blue stripes when fully ripe. The interior is green with a blushed red when extra ripe. This amazing variety is delicately sweet. The fruit holds well on the vine and post harvest.
AMETHYST CREAM CHERRY
Lovely white cherry with purple antho splashes on the top. Great flavor, delicate but complex. Big production. Sunburn, crack resistant. Great hang time and shelf life.
EVAN’S PURPLE PEAR
Good to very good production, great disease tolerance typical of potato leaf. 2-3 oz. cluster, purple pear shaped fruit, with excellent sweet rich flavor. Ripe fruit has some hang time.
BARRY’S CRAZY CHERRY
Huge clusters of pale yellow, oval shaped cherry tomatoes. Very good, sweet flavor. Huge harvest potential.
NAPA ROSE
Very productive and unique pink cherry tomato. Great looking with a very good flavor that is sweet rich. Everyone who trialed it was pleased. Another variety that has exceptional hang on the vine quality and can be harvested by cutting the entire cluster off, making for a very pretty and unique look.
BLUE TOMATOES
INDIGO APPLE
Huge production, good Anthocyanin (same thing that makes blueberries blue). Large clusters of 2-4 oz. fruits. Small unripe fruit turn purple, as they grow and ripen they turn almost black on top where sunlight hits, bottom and interior are red. Fruit has excellent hang on the vine ability. Very ripe fruit has excellent sweet flavor. Crack & sunburn resistance
BLUE BEAUTY
Great production. Medium Large fruit, 4-8 oz. Meaty Pink beefsteak with a lovely dark blue Anthocyanin top. Good hang on the vine ability, sunburn and crack resistant. Very good flavor.
BLUE GOLD
Blue and gold bright yellow tomato with tops that turn black with anthocyanin. Interior is red-yellow bi-color that is sweet and fruity. High production plant. Sunburn, crack resistant. Great hang time and shelf life.
BLUE CHOCOLATE
Chocolate brown with black anthocyanin tops. Very ripe fruit gets very sweet and rich. Great production. Sunburn, crack resistant. Great hang time and shelf life.
BEEFSTEAK TOMATOES
PORK CHOP
This is a true yellow, starts off yellow with green stripes which ripen to gold. Mid season, 75-85 days. indet. regular leaf. medium size slightly flattened beefsteaks. Great sweet tomato flavor with hints of citrus.
BERKELEY TIE-DYE
Green fruit with yellow and red stripes. Creamy green flesh infused with various shades of red and yellow. Each of these colors has a different flavor resulting in a spicey, sweet, tart tomato with good acid all in one.
PINK BERKELEY TIE-DYE
Beautiful, early, and very sweet rich flavor. 10 out of 10 people liked it better than Cherokee Purple in a farmers market taste off. Early to mid-early, 65-75 days.Compact indet. regular leaf. 8-12 oz. average. Port wine colored beefsteak with metallic green stripes. Excellent sweet, rich dark tomato flavor. Fabulous. Marginal tomato climate recommended.
SOLAR FLARE
Beefsteak, Red with Gold Stripes, Very Meaty with Luscious Sweet Red Tomato Flavor. F-7 Cross from Beauty King, selected for flavor, “WOW” Factor, production, increased earliness, scab resistance. Mid / Early Season, full body red, slightly sweet
SOLAR FLARE XL
Large and meaty red beefsteaks with gold stripes. Originally from one Solar Flare plant that put out extra large tomatoes. I grew hundreds of plants for several years selecting only the largest fruits for seeds. Great classic beefsteak flavor with a strong bite.
SUMMER OF LOVE
This improved Berkely Tye-Die produces a larger yield and ripens earlier. It has all the great colors and flavor of the original BTD. A good improvement to an excellent tomato. Beautiful, tasty and now more productive with an earlier harvest.
ROMA / SAUCE TOMATOES
SECRET SAUCE (SHORT)
Red paste tomato. Very Meaty, almost no seeds. Outstanding production from a short stout semi-indeterminate plant. Very good true tomato flavor. Can be eaten fresh or processed. Excellent container plant.
BOAR’S TOOTH
Early-Mid Season. Mahogany-brick pointed roma with green stripes. Very good rich tomato flavor, decent acidity. Meaty flesh. Great production. Like most roma-heart shaped tomatoes, the plant has wispy foliage. Very striking tomato with great flavor. Good for fresh eating plus the potential to make amazingly rich sauce.
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES
YELLOW MORTGAGE LIFTER
A beautiful yellow version of the regular Mortgage Lifter. It has the same great size and taste except this variety is bright yellow in color. Always popular with attendees at the Heirloom Garden Show, this big heirloom is richly flavored and quite rare.
Indeterminate, Fruit weight 1lb+
The History of the Mortgage Lifter
VISITACION VALLEY
Early producing. Developed in the foggy coastal areas of the San Francisco Bay Area. Bright red small round fruits with intense flavor, more sweet than acidic. 1-2 oz. High yields. Great for salads.
PERSIMMON TOMATO
Heirloom grown by Thomas Jefferson in 1781. These medium to large, low-acid, persimmon-orange beauties are juicy and flavorful with tender skin and meaty flesh. One thick, succulent slice on toast makes a meal, but you’ll want seconds. They also make gorgeous soups and sauces.
PINK OXHEART
Beautiful big, oval, pointed fruit with a fine sweet old time flavor! A good all-purpose variety.
The first pink fruited heart shaped variety was introduced by the Henderson seed company in 1924 or so – called Oxheart, it was sent to them by a customer, presumably as a mutant originating amongst their other large non-heart pink variety Ponderosa. Livingston also listed it a few years later as Giant Oxheart. Following on from that, Livingston introduced Yellow Oxheart.
CHEROKEE PURPLE
David’s favorite! An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety; beautiful deep dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very large sized fruit. Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor.
History of the Cherokee Purple Tomato
Indeterminate, Fruit weight 16oz
SUNRISE BUMBLE BEE
Chefs love the luminous swirls of reds and oranges, inside the fruits and out! Everyone loves the sweet, fruity taste, too! Oblong little fruits weigh barely an ounce, sometimes show a pronounced beak at the blossom end.
Over a decade in the making, independent breeders at Artisan Seeds (Baia Nicchia Farm (Sunol, CA) ) applied traditional breeding methods to develop this unusual new class of tomato. Defining features include not just outstanding flavor but julienne (elongated) and rounded cherry shapes in a patterned palette of reds, oranges, golds, pinks, and greens. The Tiger Series and ‘Blush’ are the julienne type, while the Bumble Bee Series has the traditional spherical shape.
YELLOW PEAR
Very sweet, 1 1/2″ yellow, pear-shaped fruit have a mild flavor, and are great for fresh eating or for making tomato preserves. Very productive plants are easy to grow.
The pear tomato originated in Europe in the 18th century. Within the next century both England and the United States were introduced to the fruit. In 1752 records show the English using it for flavoring soups.
The first recorded yellow pear tomatoes were grown in Europe in 1805. In 1825 the Hudson’s Bay Company, Fort Vancouver, once the headquarters of the fur trade in the Northwest, operated a seven-acre farm filled with flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits, among which was the yellow pear tomato.
In 1847 three varieties of tomato, including the pear tomato, were grown for the table in the United States. In 1863 seedsman Joseph Ellis offered over a hundred varies of tomato seeds for sale in Utah and Denver, including those of the yellow pear tomato. In 1889 George Thomas & Co. sold pear tomatoes.
POMPEI
(Hybrid) Roma style, imported from Italy where tomato breeding is a passion, the tall productive vines of Pompeii load up early with heavy clusters of big elongated plum tomatoes with rich flavored meaty flesh. Good sauce tomato.
DELUNA BUSH
These scrumptious tomatoes are specially bred for abundant yields on space-saving 2½ – 3′ plants. They are perfect for growing in large pots and patio containers. Super Bush bears juicy fruits with full-sized sweet tomatoey flavor, not bland or watery like so many other bush varieties.
