Cherokee Purple Organic Tomato Seeds

Days to Maturity: 80 from transplant

Indeterminate

A beloved heirloom as valuable for its flavor as it is for its unusual look, Cherokee Purple sets giant beefsteaks weighing about a pound and filled with intense violet-purple hues. This is a true legacy plant, believed to have originated more than 120 years ago in the Cherokee nation in Tennessee. The vining plant is very heavy bearing, and each of these tomatoes is a masterpiece of color, flavor, and history. Do not miss this valuable fruit from the American past.

Slightly ridged and very symmetrically shaped, these tomatoes combine juiciness with a strong tomato tang, the type unknown to those rock-hard supermarket varieties. They may need some support as they mature on the plant, their massive weight pulling them downwards. Stake this vigorous plant well and then offer a little extra help to bring in its crop of giants.

Cherokee Purple is indeterminate, so it keeps growing and setting new fruit all summer long. You will find it very easy to grow and heavy bearing. For extra-large tomatoes, remove all but a few flowers, so the plant can concentrate its energy into fewer fruit. For our part, we like Cherokee Purple so much that more is merrier.