Would You Give a Black or Purple Tomato a Try?
- Posted on January 30, 2012 at 2:20pm by
Liz Klimas
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That’s neither a plum nor a tiny eggplant. It’s a brand new breed of tomato: a black one.
Developed by Technological Seeds DM, an Israeli-based company, the “Black Galaxy” variety of tomato gets its color from a pigment found in blueberries, which was not present in its genome before, according to Y Net News. This photosensitive pigment will get darker and darker as the tomato ripens.
Watch the Associated Press report on these black fruits — yes, tomatoes are technically a fruit:
And believe it or not, this black tomato is not the first to be introduced this year with an unusual color. The KVAL reporting out of Corvallis, Ore., states that the “Indigo Rose” tomato was recently announced from a program at Oregon State University. Perhaps the OSU tomato , as KVAL describes, is “really, really purple” but it can at times it appear black.
Indigo Rose (Photo: Tiffany Woods via KVAL)
Horticulture professor Jim Myers explains to KVAL that the tomatoes take on a purple pigment because of a compound called anthocyanins:
“It is the first improved tomato variety in the world that has anthocyanins in its fruit,” he said.
“If you want a really, really purple tomato that can be as black as an eggplant, give Indigo Rose a try,” Myers said. “Other so-called purple and black tomatoes have the green flesh gene, which prevents normal chlorophyll breakdown. A brown pigment called pheophytin accumulates and has a brownish color that makes a muddy purple when combined with carotenoids.”
Anthocyanins are in the class of flavonoids – compounds found in fruits, vegetables and beverages – that have aroused interest because of their potential health benefits. “They have many varied effects on human health, but while they are powerful antioxidants in the test tube, we don’t really know whether they have an antioxidant effect in the human body.”
Indigo Rose still has a pink interior. (Photo: Tiffany Woods via KVAL)
Would you give either of these tomato varieties a try?
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Comments (47)
ConservativeHippie
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 9:56amApparently these folks have never heard of heirloom tomatoes that come in a rainbow of colors, from pearly white to almost black and everything in between. You can grow green, pink, orange, yellow, flame colors, etc. And all of these are not nasty hybrids. Taste alot better but some take a bit longer to grow. But if you grow for the right area they will survive our changeable weather here from lots of rain one summer to drought the next without much help. I will take what God gives us and let these fools keep their “Frankenfood”.
Report Post »mils
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:39amwe raise black krim, brandywine etc…delicious…just so monsanto doesn‘t come up with these we’re okay.
Report Post »PPMStudios
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 8:58amObviously, I haven’t tried this particular one but, this past year, I grew heirloom Roma tomatoes and they were great!
Report Post »BuggiOlleo
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 8:44amBlack skin- Cool..tomato meat looks like a Florida sandy…not even close to a real tomato! In the 6000 years or so of civilized agriculture, black tomato has arrived?!– Uh Uh–you eat it; I’ll take a ripe red Roma any day.
Report Post »PlzGodMakeHimStop
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 8:22amHow do you think they got those tomatoes to have tougher skins for transport? They spliced in alligator DNA!!!
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 7:41amWas that Chis Mathews in the video?
Report Post »The Scarecrow
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 11:00pmIf these are GMO I wouldn’t touch them.
Report Post »YouAreMistakenSir
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 12:13amWhy not?
Report Post »Marine 1
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 12:50amWhy does man always have to modify what GOD has instituted?
Monsanto and other companies continue to fill the market with GMO food. You eat
the food, you get filled up but you have not received the nutrition your body needs.
My suggestion — grow as much of your own food as possible, can and dry as much as possible and buy the rest from those that produce organic fruits and vegetables. You may pay a bit more for the produce but you will be getting real food the way GOD intended it to be.
Just one more thing the Powers That Be are trying to do to destroy mankind.
Prepare your gardens, plant your gardens and then pray over them and consecrate the ground to GOD. After all he is the owner and we are the stewards. Then tend them and enjoy the the blessings of GOD and the fruits of your labors.
Report Post »King4wd
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 3:14amAll farmed tomatoes are genetically modified. Generations of farmers used selective breeding and cross-pollination to create the large tomatoes we know and love. Otherwise we would only have dark green little grape and cherry sized tomatoes. Dark tomatoes aren‘t that strange either since the tomato’s closest relative in the produce department is the eggplant.
Report Post »Noonien_Soong
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 6:17amMy mom use to wrap colored crepe paper around bulb flowers to get different colors in the flowers. Of course I was a youngster at the time, but it worked. I suppose using concentrated watercolor dye will do this to tomatoes as well packed in a paper pouch will do the same.
Report Post »LouC57
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 7:29amI’d try them.
Best tomato I ever had is an old variety called “Bloody Butcher”. Fabulous, delicious and low acid. I believe they’re heirlooms. Hard to find the seeds.
Report Post »RebelYell1862
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:18pm“Big Boy or Better Boy” the best tomatos.
Report Post »RebelYell1862
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:15pm“Chicken and Biscuits”.
Report Post »BuggiOlleo
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 8:47amYippee Chi Yea .. !!
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:07pmIf it was the result of traditional selective breeding, sure, but since it’s a transgenic plant, absolutely not. Even though I love both tomatoes and blueberrys, I will not eat a frankenfruit tomatoeberry.
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 9:49pmI’d be willing to try it too. Too bad they haven’t made blueberries the size of tomatoes… OMG… LOVE BLUEBERRIES, especially the ones from Maine. Could eat them by the bucket full.
AS for GMO foods. I‘m fine with it unless they’re crossing species… like fish with fruit… which they have done. But how do you think we got seedless grapes and other fruit who knows how many years ago…. it was this same kind of experimenting. Yes… it is a GMO food. But since this was developed using other varieties of tomatoes…. I wouldn’t be afraid of it.
We need some kind of labeling to this affect. Like I don’t want goat DNA in my corn….. but it’s okay to have some carrot DNA in my corn….LOL
Report Post »777phase
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:03pmHey wake-up…We had purple tomatoes in the 1950s…They were called beef stake tomatoes..
Report Post »jzs
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:12pmWhen I’m shopping tomatoes, I pick out the red ones. I’m not pick up a black tomatoe or anything black. If I have a tomatoe that has sat around to long and starts to look a little black I toss it.
Same with mushrooms, I get the ones that are white in the center. I judge by color, that’s just my history and what people say is good.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 10:20pmThere are plenty of tasty black foods. The blackest egg plants, sliced, coated in flour, spiced, fried in hot oil. Mmmm. Good.
Black berries.
Nice, dark plums.
Report Post »fabercastell
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 9:45pmDoes that old saying apply to black tomatoes?
Report Post »That one saying which goes, “once you go black, you never go back?” :)
gemmeri
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:53pmDid Obama decide we needed black representation in the produce section? Is this something to do with the fruits of his labors or what have you? Do these grow well in Africa & Arabian countries? I’m confused about the pursuit for racially correct produce…
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:45pmYes, yes, that’s what EVERYONE needs, more GM food products.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 9:46pmOr GM cars…. : )
Report Post »Razorhunters
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:45pmrefuse to eat gmo food…
grow my own.
Report Post »TROONORTH
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:35pm‘Black tomatoes’?
What racist geneticist thought this up? I smell reparations coming!!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:27pmBlack on the outside and pinko on the inside. Isn’t that what we have in the WH now? What does Sharpton and Jackson have to say about this. A white man makes tomatos black?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:19pmSorry… my mind rejects it…
Report Post »Grey Eagle
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:38pmActually there are a number of heirloom tomatoes such as Chocolate Cherry, Black Krim, and others, which are really tasty. They have more of a certain beneficial chemical in the tomato. I would be willing to try it.
Report Post »YesNdeedie
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:14pmA good ole vine ripe red ripe tomato is my liking. If it’s not broke why try to fix it?
Report Post »jeffersonian1776
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:31pmYour reply makes you look like…. They aren‘t saying something is wrong with your good’ol red vine tomatoes. They did not break. You will still be able to get tomatoes, I know it’s hard to believe, but they aren’t going to be replacing them (cause they’re not broken) with these new fandangled crazy purple and black things that all the kids are doing today just to be cool. There is not some ultimate malicious intent in everything you witness.
Report Post »cantwaitfor2012
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:07pmBlack Krim tomatoes are the best I have ever had. And they can be almost black skinned.
Report Post »MarsBarsTru7
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:03pmNo, I would not eat it. I would not eat it on a stair, I would not eat it here or there, I would not eat it anywhere.
This is dumb. WHY?
I don’t eat genetically modified foods when it can be helped. I certainly won’t eat a black tomato.
Report Post »jeffersonian1776
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:38pmI bet there are a ton of things in your diet that have been modified, you just don’t know it.
Report Post »What is it with all you negative people? If everyone was this negative, individuals would never be able to solve any problem which arose, and isn’t that a major component to the human condition, solving the ever-present problems in our lives?
jeffersonian1776
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 8:48pmYou said “This is dumb. Why?” Well, I don’t know “Why?“ But your answer to why it is ”dumb” was: “I don’t eat genetically modified foods when it can be helped. I certainly won’t eat a black tomato.”
That takes top prize for the best answer someone could possibly give concerning a question they had proposed themselves. When you’re driving down the street and pull up to a stoplight where another total stranger may be there next to you minding their own business, do you say to yourself? “You are so dumb, you jerk, you!!!”
Report Post »thekuligs
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:59pmThere are many MANY heirloom tomatos that come in a variety of colors. I have no problem with any of those but I think I will be skiping this genetically modified one.
Report Post »Doug Piranha
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:45pmDo you remember that green ketchup experiment a few years back? Didn’t go so well, did it?
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:59pmWhat I really want to know, is will these new tomatoes cause stains, if thrown at someone you don’t like?….such as an OWS hippie…..
Report Post »scrapadapolis
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:44pmI’m really getting tired of scientist messing with mother nature.I understand some hybrid tomatoes are grown to have tough skins for less damage during harvest or even tomatoes grown for disease resistance.But really what happened to the tomatoes we used to eat with salt and off the vine?And here in America will we be forced to buy black/blue toms over reds because we have to except exports of other countrys and thus pay farmers not to grow.More tax funded propaganda if you ask me.
Report Post »jeffersonian1776
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 9:06pmThem stupid scientists sure did screw up the good’ol days apple, them jerks. Who do they think they are, God? We were perfectly fine with our red delicious, and they had to come along and ruin for everybody. Now we have all these stupid varieties that we can’t even pronounce, farmers are growing these apples in even more states now, some of them last longer now and are more resilient to disease. Look, they might have helped the apple farmer economy with all their high-filutin‘ genetic manhandlin’ but remember, they aren’t God. These scientists are the scurge of mankind. Next, they’ll probably find out that these new tomaters cause brain tumors. Hey, wait a minute, it would take a scientist to figure that out, and scientists have been trying to cure brain tumors for years now….uh, nevermind.
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:37pmThese are some of my favorite tomatoes! I’ve been growing them for years! One of my favorites is called Cherokee Purple!
I also love the purple potatoes! They have a very smooth, mild flavor. YES!
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:41pmAnother favorite tomato is Black Krim! Yum!
Report Post »NC1
Posted on January 31, 2012 at 8:18amYep, I’ve grown some Cherokee Purples, they’re yummy. I’ve heard of the Black Krims but never tried them.
Report Post »Steverino
Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:32pmSure, I‘d give ’em a try. Not crazy about the Tomato Genome Project, but I’ll try just about anything once.
Report Post »There are some delicious heirloom tomatoes approaching that darkness.
Steve