Heirloom Tomatoes (Photo courtesy of TomatoFest.com)

TomatoFest® Garden Seeds today announced that "black" tomatoes again rank high in the "Top 10" list of favorite heirloom tomatoes going into 2009. The "Top 10" favorite heirloom tomatoes are:

1. Brandywine (pink)
2. Paul Robeson (purple/black)
3. Aussie (red)
4. Julia Child (pink)
5. Cherokee Purple (purple/black)
6. Black Cherry (purple/black)
7. Kellogg's Breakfast (orange)
8. Gold Medal (yellow/red striped)
9. Aunt Ginny's Purple (purple/black)
10. Carmello (red)

"Black" tomatoes were more popular in 2008 than in any prior year," said Gary Ibsen, grower of 600 varieties of certified organic, heirloom tomatoes in California, and founder of TomatoFest® Garden Seeds, a prominent internet retailer of organic heirloom tomato seeds.

"The purple/black colored heirloom tomatoes continue to rise in popularity at produce markets, with restaurant chefs, and with home gardeners for the 6th year in a row," "Black" tomatoes are fast becoming as popular as many of the best tasting pink and red tomatoes."

"Black" tomatoes are not really black," remarked Ibsen. "They cover a range of dark colors, including deep purple, dusky deep brown, smoky mahogany with dark green shoulders, and bluish-brown. The depth of colors seems to be encouraged by a higher acid and mineral content in the soil."

"Black" tomatoes are native to Southern Ukraine. In the early 19th century they existed in only a small region of the Crimean Peninsula. Then they started showing up as new varieties in many shapes and sizes and appeared throughout the territories of the former Soviet Union. After that they began turning up in the former Yugoslavia, Germany and the United States.

"A survey of our tomato seed sales to home gardeners and commercial tomato farmers, along with a review of our sales of fresh heirloom tomatoes to retailers and restaurants, demonstrate soundly that consumers have discovered the superior and complex flavors of the "black" heirloom tomatoes, and are selecting these bold colors along with their mix of favorite red, pink, orange and bi-colored tomatoes, said Ibsen."

Also showing a rise in popularity in 2008 with a greater presence in produce markets, are sweeter tasting bi-colored tomatoes, and a wider selection of different colored cherry tomatoes.

If you’d like to order from a tremendous selection of organic heirloom tomato seeds go to: Gary Ibsen’s Tomato Fest