Striped Black Cherry tomatoes

I just adore the colour combination of black striped tomatoes, coupled with being cherry size, this makes them look irresistible to me!

One common trait I've found in most of the varieties I've tried, is they all have firm to very firm flesh and good keeping. They are tasty fresh cherries to eat but are particularly good pan fried with bacon or roasted in the oven either on their own or with mixed vegetables.

Varieties I've tried, Black Zebra cherry, Green Tiger, Highlander F1, Purple Bumble Bee, Tigris F1, Tigro F1, Val's Black Striped, Zebrino. I also have a few segregating varieties of Tom Wagner's varieties, which have been very good too.

I grew Tigro and Tigris, both F1's last year, similar good tomato taste, firm texture in both and production was excellent. I'd be happy to grow them again. Also grown last year Purple Bumble Bee (along with Pink Bumble Bee) and Val's Black striped, production was fair and the fruit were indeed very pretty to look at, but for me the flavour was not there. I'm going to try them again and hope their flavour comes through.  I've grown Highlander F1, Black Zebra Cherry, Green Tiger and Zebrino F1 in previous years. These were again quite similar to each other, not overly sweet with good tomato taste and firm flesh, production was good with the F1's making slightly taller vines.

I'm growing Green Tiger alongside Tigris this year to compare the two and I'd like to make a couple of crosses with Green Tiger to see if I can keep the taste, colour and stripes but have a slightly 'softer' fleshed and sweeter tasting cherry.

Black Zebra Cherry (unripe)

Highlander F1

Purple Bumble Bee

Tigris F1

Tigro F1

Zebrino (unripe).

Grappler's Quest

Grappler's Quest is a delightful cherry variety bred by Tom Wagner. This is his description taken from New World Seeds and crops "All I wanted was a sweet red cherry from the most unlikely of parents; Schimmeig Creg, Sun Sugar, and Green Grape. I feel like I am in a grappling tournament, facing one opponent after another.  But if somebody wants to grapple with me…the quest may end soon."

What a mix!

So far for me Grappler's Quest have been a small chocolate brown cherry, taste is great with a good balance of sweet. They are not one to pass without sampling and were a good producer even in cooler times of our early 2013 summer. I like this variety very much and will be growing them again this year, I guess this line should really be called Grappler's Chocolate Brown or something similar.

Dancing With Smurfs

How can you not love that name! This is a beautiful cherry variety bred by Tom Wagner. The seeds I received in 2011 were F3, meaning they were still segregating for traits and selections needed to be made over the coming years for the next generations of seed to be saved. I've been selecting for my favourites each time, based on taste, looks and earliness. Dancing With Smurfs is not an overly sweet type of cherry as some are, but what it does have is a good rich tomato taste, great for snacking on. I've found this variety easy to grow in a greenhouse and here it will crop outside in a sheltered spot.

Dancing With Smurfs F4

The blue - anthocyanin colour is seen most intensely on fruits that have been in direct sunlight. This can be seen on stems and fruits from very early on and fruits continue to darken as they grow. Leaves do tend to curl a bit which helps lets more sunlight in. The shaded under side of the tomato retains it's original colour and ripens to red, a great way to check they are ripe.

The picture below shows the reduction in intensity of the blue-black colour (Anthocyanin) when tomatoes are grown in a slightly shady spot, taste and production remained good. I think Dancing With Smurfs and another similar cherry of Tom's, Helsing Junction Blues are my favourite 'antho' cherries that I've grown so far. I'll continue making my selections from the plants I grow and save seeds to be sown next year. 

Dancing With Smurfs F6

Choosing My Cherry Tomato Favourites

This year I'm planning on growing out a varied array of cherry tomato varieties, to compare them in the same growing season with a view to picking my ultimate top 10 - 20. I have an idea this will help me reduce the overall amount of varieties I seem to have gathered! I've included my favourites that I've grown before, but maybe not grown them along some of the others on the list to be able to make a final call. Also quite a few new to me varieties in the mix which is fun and I hope there will be some new stars.

I've included Sweet Aperitif and Rosella as they are from the same breeders as Black Opal, which I found so good last year. Similarly I have a number of cherry tomatoes bred by J&L Select seeds as one of their varieties Ambrosia Gold, was outstanding last year. 

Seeds sown;
Ambrosia Bronze
Ambrosia Giant
Ambrosia Gold
Ambrosia Red
Black Opal
Blush
Bosque Green Cherry
Cafe Bule
Chocolate Pear
Cinnamon Pear
Copper Currant
Dancing with Smurfs
Esmeralda Golosina
Floridity F1
Green Bumble Bee
Green Doctors Frosted
Green Envy F1 (?)
Green Grape Beyond
Green Pear
Green Tiger (British)
Green Tiger
Green Zebra Cherry
Ivory Pear
Josefina
Medovya Kaplya
Napia Rose
Orange Muscat
Pink Bumble Bee
Pink Tiger
Purple Bumble Bee
Rancho Solito
Rosada F1
Rosella
Shokoladka F1
St Nicks F1
Submarine Blush
Sugar Drop
Suncherry Extra Sweet F1
Suncherry Premium F1
Sun Sugar F1
Sungold F1
Sweet Aperitif
55 Flower Goddess

Blush, very pretty and crops well, nice tomato, maybe not enough flavour?
A Fred Hempel variety.

Dancing with Smurfs, a recent introduction by Tom Wagner,
I like these a lot, not sweet but good tomato taste and they
 look stunning

Purple Bumble Bee, bred by Fred Hempel. Pretty but flavour a little
disappointing, growing again before making up my mind.

Pink Bumble Bee (Fred Hempel), pretty variety but not sure the
taste is there for me?

Green Zebra Cherry, good rich tomato flavour not very sweet.
Vines are quite short growing but productive,
lots of lovely green striped large cherries.

As I started to say above last season I was lucky enough to find two new favourites to add to my cherry affair! Black Opal and Ambrosia Gold, both utterly delish! Ambrosia Gold no picture yet, had that lovely leaf scent the same as Sungold.

Black Opal, my favourite black cherry! Gorgeous sweet
flavour, I couldn't get enough of these beauties last year.

Which leads me on to what are my current Tastiest Top 8 cherry tomatoes?

Ambrosia Gold
Black Opal
Coyote
Floridity F1
Suncherry Premium F1
Sungold F1
Sunsugar F1
Rosada F1
They are mostly F1 varieties.

Trio of Coyote

Sungold

Great tasting cherry tomatoes already bubbling near the top spots are
Medovya Kaplya
Cafe Bule
Green Doctor and Green Doctors Frosted
Green Pear
Piccolo
Verde Claro

Verde Claro, bred and developed by Tom Wagner, seeds are from Tom

Medovya Kaplya, such a pretty fruit and the best tasting
yellow pear I've tasted, Particularly good later in the
season and they carry on until cut down by frost.

Green Doctor's Frosted on the left Green Doctors on the right. Subtly skin
colour separates the two, taste is very close, but if I had to call it
Green Doctors Frosted would just edge to the front.

Cherries under development 
Varieties I like very much and are likely to be hustling for the top spots in the near future, but are still being grown out for a few more generations until stable. All varieties bred by Tom Wagner, except Purple Haze OP which is from Keith Mueller's F1 variety.

Black Casady
Golden Crabapple
Grappler's Quest
Matt's Casady
Matt's Folly
Momognahela Epidote
Purple Haze OP
Sweet Casady

These are one of the selections I've made from Golden Crabapple

Grappler's Quest

Matts Casady

My selections of Sweet Casady and Black Casady

Black Casady

Black Casady, bred by Tom Wagner and released as an unstable variety by Tom Wagner seeds in 2013.

These were a very nice variety to grow, they look gorgeous and produced a good crop of tomatoes for me. I found their taste sweet and spicy, with a good follow up of 'tomatoey' flavour. Fruits are a beautiful red/black and most of the plants I grew had faint stripes on the tomatoes. They have a slim elongated shape and are quite small, which makes them very easy to pick and eat several each time I passed!  Of the plants I grew, all had subtle variation in colour, stripes and flavour. I will be growing these again.

Faint striping on unripe fruit 

Combination of fruits from 5 plants, I added a pencil to give a sense of size.

I just think they look so cute!