From the New Zealand organization called Heritage Food Crops Research Trust, I found out about the health benefits of “tangerine” orange tomatoes, those that have high levels of tetra-cis-lycopene instead of regular red lycopene or yellow xanthonins or beta-carotene orange (the other main source of orange in tomatoes). They have double recessive tt genes and according to research are healthier than red tomatoes or Beta-orange tomatoes (support extended elevated plasma lycopene levels). Even more interesting is the suggestion that tangerine orange tomatoes were an evolutionary ancestor of red tomatoes- tomatoes were orange before they were red or yellow!

I’d like to explore the variety of large tangerine tomatoes- would it be possible to make a very round tangerine slicer with anthocyanin stripes?