save the seeds. do you know how to ferment seeds. keep them separate.

I would suggest you get the seeds out and put into a pill tube of the appropriate size. you can buy them for dime or 15 cents at wal mart and other pharmacies.

let ferment for a week then strain through a strainer and dry off the seeds. label and use next year.

most tomatoes self sow so the seeds are good. chances are real good that the seeds will work perfect for you.

I use the handle end of a spoon to spoon out seeds from the cavity. you do not need all the seeds just some for saving. when you have lots of tomatoes you can save more seeds if desired.

Yes, I'll save the seeds. If I don't like these I have a friend who'd love to get the seeds. I also got my first ever home grown cantaloupe. It's for dessert-can't wait to try it.

YUCK ! The Cherokee Chocolate tastes like salt water, no tomato taste at all, and made the bread so wet I didn't want to finish the sandwich. No way will I save seeds from this. Ick. Later I'll try the CP.

Deeby-
You might have just had a bad tomato, or a misnamed one.

Here is a link that might be useful: GW comments on Cherokee Chocolate and Purple

Thanks. On that thread one poster said that CG gets watery if too ripe. The one I bought is kind of soft-more than just a feeling of "give". The guy said it's a CB but who knows, he didn't know what his mother's "jellybeans" are. I'm a little leery now-I thought at a farmers market the people would know what they have.

Deeby, I've had the same problem as you. First I was thinking I could go to the local high end stores and get some heirlooms ... they don't even know what they have and half of the time they probably aren't even heirloom tomatoes as you and me are thinking.

I've been wanting to go to the farmers market too but not much in my region as far as tomato and it is a long very early drive. If you don't get there early and if there happen to be any heirlooms, the restaurant buyers come around 6am and they probably get sold. But the people that sell aren't usually the same that grow and I don't even know if they always want to tell what variety they grow.

Really disappointing. No way I could have confidence always that what you get is identified properly and for that matter from a cross bred bubnch of intertwined tomatoes. The only way to be sure is to get the seed from a reliable place, or a source in this forum. It took a lot of the fun out of it. But I get how you want to do tomato-tasting to figure out what you want to spend time growing. Hope you really enjoy the Cherokee Purple!

You only bought 1 fruit of each to try? Hardly a fair sampling. Any variety can produce an off tasting fruit, especially when over-ripe, but you shouldn't write off the whole variety based on one fruit.

he didn't know what his mother's "jellybeans" are

Not sure what you mean. Jelly Bean is the name. It is a variety of cherry tomato, a hybrid but very sweet and very popular.

Cherokee Choc has a very distinctive appearance most times - a lightly but uniformly ruffled top and looks somewhat like a brown cupcake but not as dark as Cherokee Purple.

Dave

Yes, one of each. Oh, I see, the cherries are named Jellybean. He said he didn't know but that his mother "just calls them jellybeans". My mistake and thanks for pointing that out. I once tasted a CP I bought in a store and have never forgotten how good it was. My must-have pet tomato will always be Red Robin. That the plants stay small is a great plus for me and arthritis. I'm not going to plant big plants anymore. Well, if there aren't any Mexico Midgets at the FM I may cave in and grow one next year. I just like the descriptions of it. I thought since they break when picked I'd cut a spray and munch from it. : )

I was going to try a CP but when I picked it up it was super soft and I could feel the juice rolling around. Tossed it. So mad. That guy must have picked them days ago. I'm not going back to this FM !

Ah, Deeby, sorry to hear that. Wish you lived closer, I'd love to give you some GOOD CP's to try.
Up around here, most "farmer's markets" are run by people who go to the Amish produce auction and buy whatever is available that morning and then mark it up and sell it at their stands in the afternoons and evenings. They have NO idea what they are selling. It's very sad.
Edie

My first heirloom/OP tomato seeds I got from a package of assorted heirlooms in the grocery store seed section...I isolated some recognizable ones and have grown them since. Black or "unusual" coloured tomatoes aren't that popular here because a lot of people are used to the look of grocery store tomatoes.

I went to the local farmers market once to get some heirloom tomatoes, possibly to save seeds...they had a couple varieties, were mislabeled, and were exorbitantly expensive, like $3.50 for a plum sized tomato. No thanks - I bought some through mail order after that.

Get this: Today I cut open the cantaloupe I bought from the same guy. It tasted like water. No flavor at all. The CP was watery too, just not as bad as the others. Now I know why California's having such a drought-this guy's using all the water. All I know is that I'm never going back to that FM again.

Did you select the items you bought or were you only allowed the particular ones he gave you? Most farmer's markets I sell at allow the customer to make their own selections from the produce.

It really bothers me to see all these farmer's markets getting slammed. Like the customers have no responsibility at all?

Dave

This post was edited by digdirt on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 20:29

Of course I chose for myself. If I go back I wouldn't buy from that vendor. It must be that he waters way too much. And picked way too early. I don't expect them to pick during the night before market but this was ridiculous. I did get a huge and beautiful lemon verbena for only $4 from an herb stall.

No offence, Dave...I have nothing against farmers markets...this was just an experience I had at my local one.