Oregon State releases Midnight Roma, an antioxidant-rich purple tomato

[TexasTowelie]

CORVALLIS – The new Oregon State University-developed tomato Midnight Roma follows in the steps of 10-year-old Indigo Rose, the first antioxidant-rich purple tomato available on the market.

Indigo Rose was bred by Jim Myers, vegetable breeder and professor in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences. Midnight Roma is the result of crossing Oregon Star, a big, fleshy tomato good for slicing or paste with excellent flavor, and Indigo Rose, a dark purple tomato that contains anthocyanins, the same healthy antioxidants found in blueberries. Both varieties also were developed at OSU.

“We were selecting for a really dark Indigo-type processing tomato,” Myers said. “Ultimately, we got a really nice one. Anybody into home canning would be interested. Chefs like it for making sauces. Right now, Serious Pie in Seattle is using Midnight Roma to make pizza sauce.”

Row 7 Seed Co. in Tarrytown, N.Y., which has exclusive rights on Midnight Roma, is selling seed online. Co-founder Dan Barber, who has about 300,000 followers on Instagram, featured it on the social media platform and received more than 22,000 likes.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/hg/2021/04/oregon-state-releases-midnight-roma-an-antioxidant-rich-purple-tomato.html

It looks like a miniature eggplant.