Brown/Black/Chocolate Tomatoes

[NYTomatoNewbie]

Has anyone grown a black/brown/chocolate tomato that actually looks more brown in outer color than red? If yes, do you have a photo? Sometimes it is obvious when vendors touch up a tomato photo, but others I am not sure.

[karstopography]

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Bear Creek from 2023. More brown on top half, red on bottom half.

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Black Krim, True Black Brandywine, and two Japanese Black Trifele.

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Carbon next to some not black or brown types.

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Black Cherry and Rosella cherry mixed in with other cherries/small pastes, black cherry are the darkest ones.

I don’t think any of these varieties are all brown or black and red is certainly a prominent color with them.

[NYTomatoNewbie]

Thank you, this is very helpful. Is it the green shoulders that turn brown in the sun as they ripen, and then the underpart stays more red?

[karstopography]

Thank you, this is very helpful. Is it the green shoulders that turn brown in the sun as they ripen, and then the underpart stays more red?

I’ll try to pay better attention to this ripening process. I only have 2 dark tomatoes this season. Black Krim and then Black from Tula, that being a new one. The Lower half of the fruit is never as brown or black as the upper part, that been my observation with these tomatoes.

[Tormato]

While some varieties may have a tendency to ripen to more of a brown color than others, I remember Carolyn saying that environmental conditions can play a roll in the variability, from year to year, in the color of dark tomatoes.

As many here know, I don't involve myself much, in growing dark varieties. So, I basically have no first hand knowledge about what varieties might be, in certain growing conditions, or in all growing conditions, the most brown in color.

[Kurt]

https://www.tomatofest.com/Black_Sea_Ma ... -0065a.htm

The best example of blacks,plenty variations,it is a true hierloom.plenty controversy’s over true source.We tried to hot ,the sun would boil,then taste was awesome,but too watery.Went to Tom Wagners series,Dancing With The Smurfs did well as a cherry.The rounds not as well.

[KateL]

Adding to the picture party.... its tricky capturing colours on screen, but under my conditions, the tomatoes I have grown which ripened to the most mahogany brown overall are Paul Robeson, Japanese Black Trifle, & Black Russian.

Others like Black Sea Man & Black Krim for me are dark shouldered, but quite red underneath.

Screenshot_20240312_211850_Ecosia.jpg

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[Kurt]

Anthocyanin-Rich Fruits Produced by “Sun Black” Tomato Line
Key here is the Anthocyanin,not the look.

[Kurt]

Anthocyanin-Rich Fruits Produced by “Sun Black” Tomato Line

[NYTomatoNewbie]

@KateL The photos and labeling are so helpful! Thanks!

[Paulf]

Growing conditions do indeed have an affect on black/brown/dark tomatoes. My first attempt at the so called "blacks" was in 1999 with a brand new popular variety called Cherokee Purple (seeds from Chuck Wyatt directly from Craig). Since then several seasons have seen blacks only in my gardens; most years between 8 and 12 different dark varieties.

Two stories several have most likely read before: photo of some of my efforts at heirloom/OP tomatoes at the local County Fair. Since none of the judges even knew what an heirloom was, they were amazed that there were so many different kinds of tomatoes other than round, red, plain tomatoes. I doubled up and sliced up one of each so they could taste the differences. From the photo there were a few blacks (I think Cherokee Purple and Carbon) You can see the result.

Other story on darks: We took a bunch of tomatoes to my wife's sister and her husband. They only grew Rutgers hybrid and Big Boy. We wanted the to see what we grew. It got back to us that most of the varieties were OK (not a very resounding approval). But, they said, we should be more careful than to give people those rotten tomatoes. They didn't even try the CP and whichever other black we gave them. They were thrown in the garbage.

Lots of words to say that in my experience with maybe thirty different dark varieties, most tend to be brick red, to darker brown, and some years very close to blackish red. Much like hearts, I never ate a black I didn't enjoy...except for one and that one will never again be in my soil...and no names just because I am not an influencer.

IMG_0215_2.jpg

[Tormato]

Growing conditions do indeed have an affect on black/brown/dark tomatoes. My first attempt at the so called "blacks" was in 1999 with a brand new popular variety called Cherokee Purple (seeds from Chuck Wyatt directly from Craig). Since then several seasons have seen blacks only in my gardens; most years between 8 and 12 different dark varieties.

Two stories several have most likely read before: photo of some of my efforts at heirloom/OP tomatoes at the local County Fair. Since none of the judges even knew what an heirloom was, they were amazed that there were so many different kinds of tomatoes other than round, red, plain tomatoes. I doubled up and sliced up one of each so they could taste the differences. From the photo there were a few blacks (I think Cherokee Purple and Carbon) You can see the result.

Other story on darks: We took a bunch of tomatoes to my wife's sister and her husband. They only grew Rutgers hybrid and Big Boy. We wanted the to see what we grew. It got back to us that most of the varieties were OK (not a very resounding approval). But, they said, we should be more careful than to give people those rotten tomatoes. They didn't even try the CP and whichever other black we gave them. They were thrown in the garbage.

Lots of words to say that in my experience with maybe thirty different dark varieties, most tend to be brick red, to darker brown, and some years very close to blackish red. Much like hearts, I never ate a black I didn't enjoy...except for one and that one will never again be in my soil...and no names just because I am not an influencer.


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Purple Calabash? Noire de Coseboeuf?

[Tormato]

Korichnevyy Rebristyy (brown ribbed) looks quite brown. I know that I didn't send you any seeds because I have it in a bulk pack.

A pic...

viewtopic.php?p=77654#p77654

[NYTomatoNewbie]

@Paulf Thank you for the insight!

@Tormato i will put on my list for next year! The uglier the better!

[Shule]

I've grown a number of them that look quite brown in person. I don't know if I have any pictures that really depict it well offhand.

However, you should know that just because one person gets brown tomatoes from one variety doesn't mean you'll necessarily get brown tomatoes from the same variety. I've noticed color diversity in the same variety among different growers. Some that have been brown for me have not been brown for others, and some that have been brown for others have not been brown for me. However, these don't tend to be red vs. brown they tend to be black vs. brown, and maybe purple vs. brown.

One that have been brown for me include but are not limited to the following (in no particular order):
- Paul Robeson (This was very brown for me in 2015, in the shade.)
- Japanese Black Trifele (has has some green in it, too, and hasn't always been exactly brown for me; it can be black, too)
- Cold Black Brandy (the pear-shaped offtype version)
- SunChocola F2 and F3
- Chocolate Pear

You might call Eva brown.

[Shule]

I checked what pictures I had on hand (I might have others online somewhere), and none of them capture it very well, but here they are:

Cold Black Brandy offtype (It looks more reddish in the picture than I remember):

Cold Black Brandy.jpg

SunChocola F2 (The lighting isn't good enough to see the brown, but the ones on the right are brown SunChocola F2 tomatoes; the ones of the left are black Black Cherry tomatoes):

SunChocolaF2.jpg

Eva (This is probably what they looked like, or pretty close.):

Eva.jpg

I think the following are SunChocola F3s (but I didn't label them); they're not as brown in the picture as I remember:

SunChocolaF3_1.jpeg

SunChocolaF3_2.jpeg

SunChocolaF3_3.jpeg

SunChocolaF3_4.jpeg

[NYTomatoNewbie]

@Shule thank you so much!!!! Very helpful!