Monday, March 2, 2009

Name That Tomato

In the midst of the great tomato cull on the weekend I came across this interesting fellow. He was in the majorly overcrowded pot alongside the Mortgage Lifter, Green Zebra, Black Russian and Tigerella (which never fruited). He was not a member of either of these four families. He seemed to be attached, or an offshoot of the mortgage lifter, but was oxheart not beefsteak in shape.


He had yellow and red markings, but not as in a Tigerella, and inside he was both yellow and red in colour. Quite like a Hillbilly, except that the current Hillbillies in the balcony garden are mere seedlings, racing time to see if they can fruit before the weather turns. Mislabelled plant? Seems all but the Tigerella fruited in this lot, and this fellow definitely appeared to be a shoot off the Mortgage Lifter.


His flavour was softer than a normal tomato, without the citrus overtones of a Green Zebra and nowhere near the punch of flavour contained in either Black Russian or Mortgage Lifter.

What is this interesting tomato fellow and where did he come from? Any ideas? Cross polination with the nearby yellow low acid? I am at a loss, but he made a nice addition to my salad at lunch (alongside golden beetroot leaves, lettuce, lemon basil, a green zebra and some strawberry spinach from the garden, the avocado and carrots were ring ins from the markets)

6 comments:

Michelle said...

If it was actually on the mortgage lifter plant than what you probably have there is a "sport". That's the name for what happens when part of a plant has a genetic mutation. That's how the "Cherokee Chocolate" tomato came about. At the moment I have a sport on one of my African Blue Basil plants that is producing white flowers instead of purple.

Dan said...

I can't help ID it but it does look like a very nice tom with its blush interior and few seeds. I would side with Michelle, probably a sport. Being that most tomatoes self pollinate the only way they evolve is by mutations.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of sports before. Fascinating! You could have your own variety there. Did you save the seeds?

PJ said...

Hi Michelle and Dan - thanks for that, i learn something new every day!

Fern - it didn't seem to have many seeds at all so alas no. But i have one lovely salad.

Chandramouli S said...

I'm not so good with tomatoes, as I' haven't grown one, but this one looks yummy and definitely seems to taste yummy. What more does one need? :P

Alan Pulley said...

Interesting looking tomato. I cant wait to start getting fresh ones from my garden this summer. That salad looked great!