I read that the only difference is the color. But I can't say from experience. I'll be trying both this year, so hopefully I'll know more by august.

Cherokee Purple is clear skin, Cherokee Chocolate is yellow
skin.

That's the only difference.

Lee

Craig LeHoullier is the person who got the seeds for Cherokee Purple, which he named, and the mutation Lee referred to occurred in Craig's garden and when the clear epidermis of CP mutated to yellow, all it did was to change the surface color making CC a mahogany color.

Such epidermis mutations are spontaneous, heritable and permanent so there's no genetic instability associated with those kinds of mutations.

A pink tomato looks pink b'c it has a clear epidermis, if that mutates to yellow then the surface color is red and I maintain a few varieties in both the pink and red colors b'c those aren't really rare mutations. But I don't send out seeds for the alternative one, just seeds for what the original should be.

As Lee said, all else is the same.

Carolyn, and if you want to grow a CP derived complex rich tasting variety try Cherokee Green, which was a still not well understood mutation from Cherokee Chocolate. I happen to love CG. It's a green when ripe variety.

Thank you for your feedback. I have to say that I'm disappointed to hear that there isn't any difference between the two except the color. I was hoping that Cherokee Chocolate would be superior in some ways - especially taste. So why create and market a whole "new" variety just because the skin is a different color but all else is the same?

Thanks for the recommendation Carolyn. I might give CG a try.

I am a big fan of Cherokee Chocolate and grow it every year! I do find the taste to be a very rich, tangy tomato flavor...

It is also a robust, vigorous plant and pretty prolific...

I've never tried Cherokee Green so I have to take Carolyn's word that it is tasty...I have a psychological aversion to green tomatoes and green beer! They're both aberrations of nature to me...

So why create and market a whole "new" variety just because the skin is a different color but all else is the same?

******

Cherokee Chocolate wasn't created, it was the result of a spontaneous mutation.

And the choice as to whether to market a variety is the choice of those places selling seeds.

If you want to talk about creating new varieties I think we should look at all the so called black tomatoes to start with. When I joined SSE in the late 80's there were about 5 of them, that's all. Then the fad started for the blacks and now there are over maybe 150 of them listed in the Yearbook. Are they all different? Nope. There are those who have done large growouts of some of them at the same time in the same season and they aren't all unique. The names may be different but the varieties aren't all different.

We could say the same about the current fad for green when ripes.

Where there is demand the varieties will follow. Names have been changed at some places and by some folks to try to indicate something unique, something different. I could send you to a website where Green Grape was called Eenie Weenie Greenie and Cherokee Purple was called Native American. But I won't send you there. LOL

And look at all the wonderful varieties that arose by accidental cross pollination and then dehybridization from that initial hybrid to an OP state. And the same for those that were deliberately bred. I could make long lists of both kinds.

Many commercial seed sites, especially those that most folks who grow heirloom kinds go to, get their initial starts from the SSE YEarbook as well as varieties sent to them by others. And several of those sites put a spin on varieties for sales purposes.

What does one call a variety such as a well known pink that has had an epidermis mutation from clear to yellow so that it's now red? Is it still the same as the original pink? Nope, it's not b'c there has been a mutation. the DNA has changed.

Green Doctors is a nice green when ripe cherry and last summer two different folks got a mutation with it such that the epidermis went from yellow to clear so now those fruits look like frosted grapes. it was decided to call it Green Doctors Frosted, and I offered it in a seed offer elsewhere and seeds are now available commercially as well as in the SSE YEarbook.

What do we do about a variety that has become PL where the original was RL? Many would say they are the same except for leaf form, but I've written here many times that I don't think that's a reasonable conclusion b'c there's more than one way to go from RL to PL and more than one gene can be involved. Is KBX, the PL form of KB ( Kellogg's Breakfast) the same as KB? Are Spudakee and Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf the same?

So there's a difference in creating a variety either by deliberate breeding as many are doing now, or by dehybridizing and making selections of naturally crossed hybrids to the OP sate, or as a result of a mutation, either seed DNA one or a cell one called a somatic mutation, and those activities have to be separated from what you call marketing, which is not in the hands of those OP varieties that are a result of those activities.

Every year I send the best of my new ones I've grown that year for trial to a few commercial places where I know the owners and trust them and how they run their businesses. it's their decisions to offer them if they want to, not mine.

Do large corporations also create and market at the same time? Absolutely and the variety Kumato is an excellent example of that as well as Campari and Santa Sweets and many many more.

It sure is an interesting situation, but it also occurs with many many veggies and fruits, not just tomatoes. ( smile)

Carolyn

Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me Carolyn. From my point of view, having so many tomato varieties gets overwhelming. It is already difficult enough to create a list of tomatoes you are going to grow from the existing thousands of varieties. I suppose that is why you see so many threads about "best tasting" or "favorite tomato" as people have a finite amount of space and only want to choose the very best tomato varieties. Why confuse matters even more with supposedly "new" types that dont have much more to offer the average home gardener like me? When there is so much hype about some of the new varieties, ordinary folks like me feel compelled to try them. It's disappointing to discover that they are not superior or even a slight improvement to any of the old stand-bys that people usually grow in their gardens.

I do understand what you['re saying about so many choices, but I don't think much is accomplished by all those threads asking for the best this or the best that b'c it's only by growing a variety in ones own garden with that soil and that weather in that season and the amendments used and the way a person grows tomatoes that will allow for individual assessments as to a particular variety.

And add to that the fact that taste is personal and perceptual and subjective and that there's even a human genetic association with taste and the situation becomes even more clouded as I see it.

I could make a list of the varieties I don't like, for one reason or another, and for sure some others would say that they were the best varieties they ever grew. LOL

Carolyn

This is for Carolyn137: You mentioned that there were 5 black tomatoes originally, and now there are 150. What were the original five? I found 4 on the SSE website. Black From Tula, Black Krim, Black Plum, and Black Sea Man. This is only my second year growing tomatoes, and I have a liking towards the Blacks. I would like to try them all eventually.

This year I have Purple Cherokee, Black From Tula, & Carbon. I am also trying Black Pineapple but have recently discovered, by researching, that its name has nothing to do with being a Black tomato. Where would I go to find the information on the 150 varieties? I'd like to know which ones are the same and which ones are different. Thanks!

My heck!! Trying to determine tomato variety differences feels about the same as trying to determine what's actually meaningful when I mattress-shop!!!

Thank You Carolyn, delayed though this is, for all your posts like this. My brain feels at least somewhat less like a tossed spaghetti-bowl of variety tidbits!!

Laurie

This epidermis thing is very interesting. Thanks to Carolyn for explaining.

So really pink and red tomatoes are the same when sliced : Like red Brandywine and pink Brandywine !!.

Now that I know this I don't need to grow Cherokee Chocolate.

Sey