Tomatoes
Janie G
Posts: 13
Good morning - 40 years ago I used to enjoy a tomato whose flavour was so memorable, I can still taste it. However I cannot find the tomato or its name. It was a firm, medium sized fruit but had very stiking green rays eminating from where the stalk joined the tomato. From memory, there might have been seven or eigth of these green stripes on the tomato. The flavour was extraordinary. Can anyone identify this tomato or tell me where I might find this information? I await a a reply, in anticipation.
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Posts
Tigrella I grew a few years back
Yep, I'd say Tigrella, too.
There's also one called green zebra, it's yellow and green.
There's also a type called Green Tiger but is hard to find.
To figrat, sotongeoff, Alina W, Zoomer44, and Bob The Gardener - I thank you very much indeed for your replies. Invaluable information. All I need to do is find some seed. Can't tell you how grateful I am. Happy gardening.
Tigrella has yellow/gold stripes rather than green. Are you sure about the colour of the stripes, Janie? And was it a red with green stripes?
If your memory about the size is right, I doubt it was Green Tiger because GT is closer to a cherry. I also suspect Green Tiger is an invented name for marketing purposes. Seeds aren't available via the usual commercial sources and it's sold "exclusively" through supermarkets. But the anecdotal evidence suggests that saved seeds grow true to type, suggesting it's not a hybrid, which is unusual for supermarket "exclusives". The tomato might well exist under another already established name. Tomato history is littered with the re-naming of established varieties for marketing purposes.
That you're talking about 40 years ago both helps and hinders the cause. It rules out a lot of the more recently developed bi-colours, but more than a few older varieties have also, unfortunately, disappeared.
I'll get onto some tomato fanatic friends of mine and see if they have any thoughts.
Many thanks, Italophile for your response. Those who previously assisted me very kindly, lead me to research Tigrella. Your doubts confirm my thoughts. Unfortunately, Tigrella is not the tomato I am searching for. Tigrella seems to be a red tomato with green stripes throughout the whole tomato. The tomato I am looking for is a medium sized red tomato but the green stripes are only seen on the shoulder of the tomato eminating from where the stalk joins the tomato. Your efforts to contact your tomato fanatic friends would be much appreciated. My 94 year old mum had one wish on her birthday and that was to taste these beautiful tomatoes again. Nothing would delight me more than to grant her wish. To tell her that Gardener's World Forum is searching for this tomato will give her a huge boost. Many many thanks for you efforts.
Okay, Janie, that's called red with green shoulders rather than stripes. Tomato terminology gets very technical!
It should rule out Green Tiger, too, or whatever it's really called, though GT isn't anything like medium-sized anyway.
I'll get back to you when I can.
Janie, it has just occurred to me that vivid green shoulders often appear on what are termed the "black" varieties - toms that originated in and around the Crimea. Some of them are very dark-skinned, apparently (but not really) black, but some have more red. I'll look into how many were around roughly 40 years ago.