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helenh_gw

blue tomatoes - taste and ?

helenh
10 years ago

Do any of the blue tomatoes taste good or are they mostly just for fun and breeding experiments. Also I wonder if a few blues were added to salsa would the health benefits be lost in the canning or freezing process.

Comments (18)

  • sheltieche
    10 years ago

    not sure about salsa but I love my p 20, very good taste, looks great in salads and performed well two years in a row, it might be a bit too juicy for salsa. As for taste, I just had small tomato taste party and 3 of us were growing it, taste was different for each, mine was most tart of them...

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    I'm growing Indigo Rose, and I think it is nothing special. It has few seeds and is meaty. A small tomato. But I must say friends and neighbors are raving about it. it is really productive, well mine is grafted, and it is productive. Takes a long time to ripen too. They are now ripening and I have so many I have been handing them out. Usually you want to give away your best, but most people ignored my best and commented on this tomato! I keep getting requests for the tomato. usually neighbors are thankful for the free food, and they are, but they usually don't come back and ask for more, in this instance they are coming back and asking for more. I still have about 30 to give away, so no big deal.

    Indigo Rose has p20 in it's lineage. Speaking of such tomatoes Violet Jasper looks interesting. Ironic as I'm growing Jasper hybrid too (regular not violet). An AAS winner. Great tomato!
    The Violet Japer description from seller:
    Redish-purple with green strips (see photo) Round fruits, fairly regular, about 4-5 cm wide. Nice flavor. Quite early and productive, grows well in the north. 60 days.

  • helenh
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Do you think the kids are taking them to show and tell and the adults taking them to work because of novelty not taste?

    That picture looks a little like Black and Brown Boar only a brighter red.

  • sheltieche
    10 years ago

    the picture posted above does not look like p20/ Indigo rose though, there is no stripes on the fruit, just color change from dark on top to the pale/red on the bottom

  • naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
    10 years ago

    The image is Violet Jasper.

  • sheltieche
    10 years ago

    got it, well it is not as pretty IMHO. I agree beauty of the bush and presentation of the fruit plays some role why it will have real estate in my garden for long time. It helps that taste is very good and they do not split. Excellent conversation piece for any garden, plus it could be grown in perennial bed or large pot near entrance for kids to run by and grab some...

  • John A
    10 years ago

    Helen - Not sure what you mean by "Blue Tomatoes." If you are asking about blue varieties in general, I am growing several. OSU Blue is a very tart tomato that's excellent in salads. They are a little larger than a cherry and very prolific.
    Cherokee Purple is an excellent, purple, large slicing tomato.
    Black Krim is also very good, but not as good as Cherokee Purple. Just my opinion.
    John A

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    My bad for talking mostly about Indigo Rose, and posting Violet Jasper! here is a photo of my Indigo Rose. We had 40 MPH winds and the branch broke. It is still attached, the leaves are brown from the break. Fruit is OK. Anyway it's the only part of in the sun right now, so you can see the color.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    Another photo, a little better able to see all colors. Too bad no kids will see this plant. I'm looking more for taste and probably will not grow this again. As far as the health benefits I eat fresh grown blackberries and red, yellow and black raspberries all year from the garden, which also have the beneficial colors. I'm making raspberry crisp tonight, bought some Breyers extra cream vanilla ice cream for a topper. I'll be using fresh grown onions and Indigo Rose in the main dish, which tonight will be "Easy Mexican Casserole"

    As far as Violet Japer, how does it taste? I really don't care how it looks. I already have my quota of tomatoes next year. So I will not include VJ anyway. I only grow about 6 plants. Maybe in coming years I will can my own tomatoes. Right now I'm more interested in other fruit. As mentioned I grow the above berries, also currants, strawberries, elderberries, cherries, peaches, plums and pluots.
    I got a good crop of sweet corn this year, but strawberries will go into the bed next year. I'll grow corn there in 4 or 5 years again.

    This post was edited by Drew51 on Wed, Sep 4, 13 at 15:15

  • scorpioangel sunset 21
    10 years ago

    We grew Dancing With Smurfs and Seattle's Blue Woolly Mammoth for the first time this year. Both were tasty and more prolific than I thought they'd be.

  • captiveroots
    9 years ago

    I grew Blue Beauty tomatoes last year and they were incredible!

    I just finished a long write up (with a lot of pictures) of growing these tomatoes in containers if you are interested (see the link below).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Beauty Tomato Report

  • green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)
    9 years ago

    Helsing Junction Blues is a good blue tomato: good productivity, good taste and good looks. It looks good paired with yellow/white tomatoes. It is a late tomato though.
    {{gwi:2132193}}

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    {{gwi:109721}}

    This post was edited by green_go on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 15:42

  • smithmal
    9 years ago

    I grew Helsing Junction Blues and they were terrible. I'm very much in the camp of Blue tomatoss = novelty.

    There are way too many great cherry tomatoes out there to waste space on a novelty (IMHO), but if someone can convince me otherwise I'm all ears.

  • green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)
    9 years ago

    That's strange, smithmal . Did you let your HJB get truly ripe before eating them?
    They are dark blue right from the start, but they didn't really ripen for me before mid-August.
    They are ripe when the green spot turns brick color:
    {{gwi:2132195}}

    then they become nice and juicy:
    {{gwi:2132196}}

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    I like that HELSING JUNCTION BLUE. Nothing else, it is very ornamental.

    Seysonn

  • smithmal
    9 years ago

    green go,

    I did and the taste was very bland. I even had a friend of mine (who I got the seeds from) also growing it at the same time (he does container growing) and he also agreed that the taste was average at best.

    That being said, tomatoes are a funny breed... one season fabulous, the next, ehhh....

  • green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)
    9 years ago

    Interesting, smithmal . Mine HJB were rather sour, but definitely not bland. ThatâÂÂs why I used them in salads with pale yellow tomato Wapsipinicon Peach (shown above) which is the same size, but sweet and completely lacks any sourness. They balanced each other perfectly.

    This post was edited by green_go on Wed, Jan 28, 15 at 9:26