[dawninspain]

Have these turned up in the UK yet?  I spotted them in a friends kitchen and she gave me one to try. They are like a very dark brown tomato. They have a nice 'home grown' tomato smell and do taste a bit nicer than the normal tomatoes this time of year.

I'd never heard of them before.

[gobs]

Is it a cross with something or a completely different fruit?

'cos I heard they are doing po-mato and tom-tato :?

[Trillium]

Nice patio though.

[Selkie]

No, I've never seen or heard of that.

One of my favourite fruits (to buy, not home grown) is a pomelo, which I think is the result of something crossed with something else....or is that ugli fruit (which I love too)?

[ditchdigger]

new black tomato. can't buy seed, only way is to save seed from bought ones,  but it could be a hybrid. (seed have been on ebay )

[dawninspain]

I googled it and found this:

http://www.seedfest.co.uk/seeds/tomatoes/black/black.html



Scroll down to almost the bottom to the section titled 'Our Statement and FAQ about Black Tomatoes' to actually find Kumato mentioned by name.

Trillium - I wish I had a patio like that - actually its a garden table - but very nice all the same.

Dawn

[gobs]

Yes, whereever I looked everybody seems to agree on this a new hybrid tomato, developed by Syn**ta.

I'm not sure if it's also them doing the pomato, but that's GM-ed.

[DD.]

From www.practicallyedible.com

Kumato Tomatoes are described as black, but they are actually more of a dark brown.

It developed over six years by Damien Flores, a Spanish grower in Aguilas, southern Spain (100 km from Murcia) for by Syngenta Seeds Europe.

The company was looking for a tomato that would grow in salty soil. According to marketers' press releases, the tomato was developed from a variety from the Galapagos Islands. However, there are actually no black tomatoes in the Galapagos Islands. Syngenta may have used some tomatoes from the Galapagos, which are "Lycopersicon cheesmanii", in the cross-breeding it did, but those tomatoes are not black -- the black actually comes from tomatoes that have been in Europe for hundreds of years, through selection.

Kumato is seed not available on retail market to home gardeners, only to commercial producers, and Syngenta has said it will not be released to the public.

Kumato were trialed in Sainsbury's stores in the UK in spring 2004.

Kumato is the black tomato that has received the most press to date (2007), perhaps because it was the first to be sold commercially.

Acknowlegements
Simonian, Haig. Syngenta Aims for Sweet Spot with New Fruit. London. Financial Times. 23 March 2004.