INDIGO ROSE

(Lycopersicon esculentum)  Rare & unusual, attractive, purple coloured fruit ripening to deep rich red with full, black shoulders as black as an eggplant.  One of the darkest tomatoes available on the market.  Particularly high in anti-oxidants with a good balance of sugars and acids.  Best harvested when fully ripe.  Deepest colour will be achieved if fruit is harvested when ripe then exposed to sunlight for approx. 1 week.  Performs well in both pots & open ground.  98 days.  80 seeds

Originally bred by professor Jim Myers at Oregon State University using traditional plant breeding techniques.  

'Indigo Rose's genesis began in the 1960's when two breeders - on from Bulgaria and the other from the United States - first cross-culitivated tomatoes with wild species from chile and the Galapagos Islands..... Some wild tomato species have anthocyanins in their fruit and until now, tomatoes grown in home gardens have had the beneficial pigment only in their leaves and stems, which are inedible.  Graduate students working with Myers crossed together the lines carrying wild tomato species genes to create the population from which 'Indigo Rose' was selected.... an open pollinated variety... seed saved from self pollinated plants will grow true to type and not produce hybrids....genetic engineering techniques were never used to develop these lines.'
(Judy Scott 'Oregon State University Extension Service' 2012)