By Michelle Fabio

According to Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest, black tomatoes are again some of the most popular heirloom tomatoes for 2009.

Of the Top 10 most popular heirloom tomatoes, four are black–which aren’t actually black but various dark colors from deep purple to mahogany.

Black heirloom tomatoes have been gaining in popularity for the last six years and saw their best year in 2008.

Originally from the southern Ukraine, they can now be found all over the world and are especially desired among tomato growers in the United States.

Sweeter bi-colored tomatoes and various colored cherry Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Fabio

Perhaps you love nothing more than a big red (or pink or orange or yellow) tomato, but you just might want to make room for another color on the shelf—black.

According to Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest Garden Seeds, one of the Internet’s largest organic heirloom tomato seed sellers, “black” tomatoes are becoming increasingly popular in produce markets and with both chefs and home gardeners.

Indeed, the Paul Robeson “black” heirloom tomato has won “Best Tasting Tomato” for several years at the NatureSweet Carmel TomatoFest in California, which you’ve read about here at Tomato Casual as well.

Other popular black tomatoes include Black Krim, Black Cherry, Black From Tula, Japanese Black Trifele, Read the rest of this entry »