Post by Alan on Feb 21, 2008 23:22:09 GMT -5
Jim Meyers has been working on this project for years. I believe the original breeding material for this particular project came from the Tomato Genetic Resources Center and was originally called LA 1996 I think (could be wrong).
Anyhow, it's not just a novelty. It's actually an attempt by a university breeder to create a high Anthocyanin tomato line which will rival and possibly surpass blueberries as a commercial source of this valuable free amino acid!
The taste is unremarkable from the conversations that I have had with Jim Meyers as well as articles I've read on the web where students of Jim's had spoken of tasting it with one even replying that it tasted like "Ink", something I don't think that anyone wants to taste in a tomato.
I believe the idea was to cross this tomato to cultivars rated high in brix and in flavor to eventually develop lines which will be commercially available as seed and plants to home gardeners. I vaugely remember one student remarking that some sun-gold tomato crosses had already been made.
One thing that I had in mind with this tomato was taking it and making crosses with the crimson gene that controlls high lycopene content and possibly (I'm not sure if it's possible to have both of these traits together) with something like Caro-Rich which is high in Beta Carotine. Then we would really be talking about a nutritionally efficient tomato crop of novel and medical use and what I like to call a "value added" seed line.
In time I would love to get ahold of some seeds for this particular line whether from OSU or as it will be released eventually to home gardeners and do some crosses with it myself.
-Alan
Anyhow, it's not just a novelty. It's actually an attempt by a university breeder to create a high Anthocyanin tomato line which will rival and possibly surpass blueberries as a commercial source of this valuable free amino acid!
The taste is unremarkable from the conversations that I have had with Jim Meyers as well as articles I've read on the web where students of Jim's had spoken of tasting it with one even replying that it tasted like "Ink", something I don't think that anyone wants to taste in a tomato.
I believe the idea was to cross this tomato to cultivars rated high in brix and in flavor to eventually develop lines which will be commercially available as seed and plants to home gardeners. I vaugely remember one student remarking that some sun-gold tomato crosses had already been made.
One thing that I had in mind with this tomato was taking it and making crosses with the crimson gene that controlls high lycopene content and possibly (I'm not sure if it's possible to have both of these traits together) with something like Caro-Rich which is high in Beta Carotine. Then we would really be talking about a nutritionally efficient tomato crop of novel and medical use and what I like to call a "value added" seed line.
In time I would love to get ahold of some seeds for this particular line whether from OSU or as it will be released eventually to home gardeners and do some crosses with it myself.
-Alan