Japanese Pink Cherry Fruit Shape?

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by peebee

The Japanese hybrid called Tomato Berry Garden was hyped as being heart shaped cherries. Johnny's used to sell them. Wonder if it is in the lineage for the Japanese Pink?

is that the same as tomatoberry? I grew those a few years ago and was sorely disappointed. lots of hype, but I had a customer bring me her seeds to start this year and this was one of them and I have one in my garden again to try.

[peebee]

yes it is called Tomatoberry here, sorry I was using the name it is called in Japan. Funny story is, I searched high and low for those seeds in Japan, only to find out they only sold seedlings. However, they did sell seeds to other countries, go figure. So that is how I found them at Johnnys. I was also disappointed. But these JPCs seem to be very well liked by members here, so it likely crossed into something tasty or it is just a coincidence about the shape. They were very cute cherries I'll say that for sure.

[clkeiper]

yah, I was sorely disappointed in the flavor. it is all hype... and blah.

[zipcode]

Tomatoberry is a very solid tomato. High production potential, thin skin, holds well, looks great, strong taste. It has the typical 'new' taste of grape tomatoes, probably popularized by Swetelle (europe's most sold grape tomato), it is different than the classic taste. I saw recently also some normal round cherries with this taste, and most f1 micros have it. It is probably easy to gene screen for it and rates high in scoring panels.

[Tormato]

Groovy,


Cut some open.



Could it be that the heart-shaped ones might have three locules and the grape-shaped ones only have two?

[groovy70s]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Groovy,


Cut some open.



Could it be that the heart-shaped ones might have three locules and the grape-shaped ones only have two?

Tormato, sorry so long to get back to you. Surprise! I cut some open and both the heart shaped fruits and the grape shaped fruits BOTH have two locules AND three locules in different fruits. So what does that mean? I'm not learned enough in this sort of thing to know if that means anything specific or not. Thanks for your help. In my pic, the heart shaped fruits are on top and the grape shaped fruits are on the bottom. Thanks again.

[AlittleSalt]

With the pictures of them cut - they are crossed without doubt. If they taste good to you - it is up to you if you want to keep growing them or not.

I'm choosing not to grow out mine.

[AlittleSalt]

There is one JPC cross tomato that I can taste within the next day or two. I'll let you know if it tastes anything like JPC.

[groovy70s]

AlittleSalt,


After tasting many of these to see if the flavor improves, I've decided not to grow them out any further. I love the little heart shapes but the texture is very, very firm (almost like a winter grocery store tomato), and the flavor isn't anything special at all. If you ever get more Japanese Pink Cherry seeds that are for sure true-to-type let me know. I'd love to trade you something for a few of them. Thank you for sharing these seeds with me. Even though the texture and flavor aren't there for me it's been fun growing these and seeing what came from them.

[AlittleSalt]

groovy70s, I will share some JPC seeds with you if I ever get any. The real JPC is firm like grocery store tomatoes. It was the sweet taste and shape that was special about them.

I did get to taste the one ripe JPC cross tomato, and I agree with you - it's not worth growing out any farther. I'm also seeing the little tomatoes not growing anymore in size - like arrested development. (to mean a stoppage of physical development)

[peebee]

Originally Posted by groovy70s

AlittleSalt,


After tasting many of these to see if the flavor improves, I've decided not to grow them out any further. I love the little heart shapes but the texture is very, very firm (almost like a winter grocery store tomato), and the flavor isn't anything special at all. If you ever get more Japanese Pink Cherry seeds that are for sure true-to-type let me know. I'd love to trade you something for a few of them. Thank you for sharing these seeds with me. Even though the texture and flavor aren't there for me it's been fun growing these and seeing what came from them.

This made me laugh in remembrance--I used to call the Tomatoberries my tomato flavored gummy bears. You could squeeze them between your thumb and forefinger and they would sort of bounce, like the candy. It seems to have been a trend in Japan for cherry tomatoes to have that firm texture, perhaps for better shelf life, I don't know. But I hope the trend is over now and we can see more of the normal textured cherries.

[groovy70s]

Thank you all for your help/info about the different shaped fruits, crossed seeds, etc. It's been fun growing these this year and I do look forward to trying the true JPC at some point in the future if seeds become available. I saved some seeds from the heart-shaped fruits from these crossed plants and sent half of the saved seeds to clKeiper since she requested some. I kept the others for hl2601 if they still want them (I'll send a PM to see). Hopefully these seeds eventually will produce something great if they are grown out further and hopefully the heart shapes will return.

[hl2601]

Thanks Mark! I pm'ed you.
Heide