Recently, when  Oregon State University rolled out their new tomato "Indigo Rose" it became the quite talk of the vegetable. This first true purple tomato is high in antioxidants, which many people believe is good for your health. The hope is that while plants like blueberries which  also are high in antioxidants are normally eaten for only a few weeks of the year, people consuming tomatoes on this type would receive benefits from them year round. This new variety was grown using natural genetics, rather than lab engineering. Development of this variety started back in the 1960's.  I met Jim Myers , a Professor of Vegetable Breeding and Genetics several years ago while he was doing early testing on a cross of  extremely hardy native (wild) tomato varieties from South America with both"Sun Gold" and Stupice which are favorites here at our Community Garden. This new tomato strain was not named at that time, but was identified as P20. The researchers  were working to improve the flavor, which was lacking from the wild strains.  A couple of years later I again got to see  their  progress in OSU's Research Farm in Corvallis.  The result is "Indigo Rose".

Locally, starts of this plant will be available at Kordell's, Dennis' 7 Dees and Portland Nursery about mid-May.  There may be a limited amount available, as it is so new.