‘Not Purple Strawberry’ was developed by Jason Haynes from the ‘Purple Strawberry’ line. The original cross was made between ‘Cherokee Purple’ and ‘German Red Strawberry’ by Bill Jeffers*. ‘Not Purple Strawberry’ was named by Susan Anderson after this segregation lost its ‘hearty’ shape. Fruits are boat-shaped medium size (4-5oz./100-150g) purple beefsteaks, with delicious, rich, and well-balanced flavors. Meaty yet juicy flesh makes them perfect slicers.

*This is how Bill Jeffers described this variety on Tomatoville (November 20th, 2013): ‘I received the seeds from Susan Anderson as Not Purple Strawberry because they had lost the heart-shaped expression. But the fact is, this tomato is superior in important ways to Cherokee Purple and Indian Stripe, so I continue to grow it every year. Last summer a friend, Jason, I sent seeds to found a purple, heart-shaped expression and returned seeds to me. Unfortunately, I only grew two plants from Jason’s seeds. The one grown at home threw these red hearts (I cannot explain that). The plant grown at a friend’s house threw the boat-shaped, beefsteak expression that I have been getting for several years from ‘Not Purple Strawberry’ seeds. If you are growing NPS from seeds from a reliable source, you should expect flat-round or boat-shaped, beefsteak, purple fruit. Good luck. It’s a great tomato’.

Culinary Use

Slicer

Flavor Profile

Well-balanced

Flesh Color

Purple

Fruit Color

Purple

Fruit Shape

Oblate

Fruit Size

Medium

Leaf Type

Regular

Maturity

Early / Mid-season

Plant Type

Indeterminate

Species

Solanum lycopersicum

Variety

Open Pollinated