New NPR Article on Anthocyanin Tomatoes

[Wildcat82]

NPR just came out with an article about new improvements in tomatoes:

“Genetic modification in the lab isn't the only way to supercharge foods with nutrients, notes Jim Myers, a professor specializing in vegetable breeding at Oregon State University. He says in fact, traditional breeders were the first to release a tomato to the public with boosted levels of anthocyanins.
More than two decades ago Myers began using traditional plant breeding to cross genes from wild tomatoes with modern varieties.
The modern domesticated tomato originated from an 80,000 years old species from Ecuador. There are about 10,000 varieties of Solanum lycopersicum, which vary from marigold orange to celery green to khaki maroon
Domesticated tomatoes have anthocyanins only in the plant, but Myers says their wild relatives have them in the fruit.
He crossed Solanum cheesmaniae from the Galapagos and Solanum chilense from South America with a domesticated variety to ultimately create the Indigo collection of tomatoes.
In 2011, they released the 'Indigo Rose,' which has a deep blue skin and a pinkish inside when ripe, and more anthocyanin.
His first version of the tomato wasn't perfect, he says – the taste wasn't great and it took a long time to ripen, but subsequent breeding has improved on it, and gardeners can buy it and grow it themselves.
"I don't know if supercharging is the right word, but we're definitely enhancing their potential to provide benefits to human health," Myers says of the series, which now includes varieties like 'Indigo Cherry Drops', Indigo Pear Drops' 'Indigo Kiwi' and 'Midnight Roma'.”

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... -gardeners

Wild tomatoes seem to be far tougher plants that can better handle mites/heat/drought like we experience in Texas so I was interested when the article mentioned the Indigo line of tomatoes. Has anyone grown any Indigo tomatoes (Indigo Rose, Indigo Cherry Drops, Indigo Pear Drops, Indigo Kiwi, Midnight Roma)? What was your assessment.

[Paulf]

The Indigos grown here have been pretty, abundant and healthy but very much lacking in flavor. It was nice to try them but never again will the space be given to a ho-hum variety.

[Mark_Thompson]

Indigo Rose was junk for me. There’s not much wild left in those tomatoes, they’re just domestics with some antho.

[pepperhead212]

The only "Indigo" I ever grew was definitely not something I liked, flavorwise.

[Frosti]

I wonder what the reason for the inclusion of S. cheesmanii in the cross was. I grew it last year and I will grow it again this year, because of its flavor and production. It was more susceptible to late blight than my domesticated tomatoes, which is something that I also noticed with S. peruvianum a few years ago. My S. cheesmanii did not have any anthocyanin in the fruits.

[maxjohnson]

I have grown it once. It is an attractive fruit, but that's about it. There are so many antho-skinned open pollinated tomato these days that perform better and have better taste.