Dark, rich-flavored tomatoes are my overall favorites. They are the ones I tend to enjoy eating the most and they form the backbone of my crop. Here are the varieties I grew this season, 2025. It was a very good tomato year. No weather disasters; no unusual pest problems.
Tomato season starts early and finishes early here in NE Texas, 8a (hot and damp.) I start seeds in late January, plant seedlings outside by mid-March and shut everything down by about mid-July. During most of the summer, it is too hot, and disease/pest pressure gets too high to make it worthwhile. Those 4 strong months yield all the tomatoes I want plus plenty to share with friends.
I’ve included links to some earlier Reddit posts that have pictures of these varieties, whole and sliced, in case you want to see what they look like.
1. Black Krim – These are the ones I like best of all. Easy to grow, excellent production, full flavor. Indeterminate. Mid-season: 75-80 days. Fruit the size of a tennis ball, 12 to 16 ounces. https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1lfd9qx/black_krim_and_cherokeecarbon_both_are_winners/
2. Cherokee Carbon – Equal in flavor to Cherokee Purple, but a much hardier plant. Indeterminate. Mid-season: 75-80 days. This is an F1 hybrid, which offers advantages in vigor and disease resistance.
3. Black from Tula – This was my first year trying these. The plant grew strong and tall; produced fruit early (about 65 days) and was prolific. Excellent flavor and texture. It earned a place in my permanent lineup. https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1lgazqg/tasmanian_chocolate_dwarf_and_black_from_tula/
4. Indian Stripe – Another new one for me. They produced well but were slower to mature than the others above. Late season: 85-90 days. Indeterminates, but my 2 plants did not grow beyond 4 or 5 feet tall, which made them easy to manage. Most of the fruits were slightly smaller than Black Krim. https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1lb7rn0/indian_stripe_and_cherokeecarbon_tasting/
5. Dark Star – A vigorous F1 hybrid, indeterminate, tall plant, needs lots of support. Excellent production from mid-season on. Fruit size is a little larger than Black Krim. Flavor is equal to the heirlooms. I’m surprised this one is not more popular. https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1lcs0c6/rosella_purple_dwarf_and_dark_star_hybrid/
6. Japanese Black Trifele – A steady performer every year. Potato leaf. Indeterminate. Oblong fruit, dark with green shoulders. Most are 5 or 6 ounces. Meaty structure and thick walls make them great for sauce, but the flavor is nice enough for raw eating as well. Mine always take 80-90 days to start producing.
7. Black Ethiopian – The “egg shape” fruit was very similar to Japanese Black Trifle except that the size is a little smaller. Earlier than JBT. Tall, rangy plants. Heavy producer. Not sure it offers any advantages to JBT. This was my first year growing it. https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1m2b81z/ethiopian_black_pleasant_lateseason_surprise/
8. Rosella Purple – This was the star of my dwarf tomato lineup the past two years. Exceptionally strong plants, dense rugose-leaf foliage, prolific producer of mid-sized fruits (most were about 12 ounces.) Long season, starting early. Excellent flavor. It is an offspring of Budai Torpe and Stump of the World.
9. Tasmanian Chocolate – Another vigorous dwarf variety. Second year growing it. Overall appearance of the plant and taste of the fruit is similar to Rosella Purple. It is a cross between Paul Robeson (a black variety) and New Big Dwarf (a pink variety.) Mid-season fruit, most about 12 ounces.
10. Black Cherry – This is my “reference standard” for rich-flavored, dark-fruit cherry varieties every year. It grows tall and is prolific, but disease resistance is poor, and I keep trying to find a replacement for it. None of the potential replacements have measured up, so I just continue to grow Black Cherry year after year.
11. Porter’s Dark Cherry – This is a variety that was supposed to be ideal for my Texas weather. The plants were strong and prolific. The fruit looked terrific but had very little flavor. I’m guessing it was developed to be a commercial tomato with eye appeal being the number one concern. Disappointing for a home grower.
Are there other dark, full-flavored tomatoes that have done well for you? If so, I would like to hear about them. Please include your approximate location, not just USDA hardiness zone.
by NPKzone8a
12 Comments
I really want to grow kumato tomatoes like the ones they have it Trader Joe’s. They are the tastiest store bought bought tomato I’ve ever had I got to imagine growing them is incredible
Cool and thanks for this! I grew Rosella Purple this year and always wondered what it’s ‘parents’ were. I thought it was an outstanding tomato.
Rebel Starfighter Prime is my favourite this year, beating Black Krim and Tasmanian Chocolate. They’re all delicious but I prefer the sweetness and texture of RSP. Both RSP and TC were more prolific for me, so I plan on growing them again next year.
YAY YAY YAY
I second Dark Star, Black Krim & Black Cherry though all 3 ended up fairly diseased for me this year…
Wonderful post.
Eastern Los Angeles County
USDA 10A
Only thing I can offer is that I grew Dwarf Chocolate Lightning this year and I really enjoyed the flavor – to my limited experience it shared many flavor qualities with Cherokee Purple which is the only dark tomato I’ve had previously. Considerably more prolific than CP for me but the fruits are smaller, probably on-par with the smallest you’d expect from a health CP plant but all were about that size.
Plants were dwarves as advertised and as such were very easy to manage. I think the tallest one was pushing 4 feet. Nice strong main stem but the fruiting branches did require their one stakes when they popped above the typical tomato cage’s top ring.
It’ll continue to flower into the 90s but doesn’t seem to set much fruit above 85 or so.
I started a second set of seedlings in late July hoping for a fall harvest but most seedlings succumbed to heat and/or pests. The survivors are doing little more than surviving – not really expecting a fall harvest at all.
Will try to start them earlier next season – maybe even as early as Winter Solstice since we don’t have a “real winter” here.
Thank you for this very descriptive post! I don’t know why I never tried black/purple tomatoes until this year, but after growing Black Sea Man, I have a massive list of seeds to buy. BSM wasn’t a great producer, but it wasn’t a great year here in North Central PA. The few that did ripen tasted like tomato paste wine. I am still trying to narrow down my “Always Grow” list, mostly because there are so many varieties to try.
It’s already been said, but thank you for this review! 😁
Oh hey, it’s you! Glad the Cherokee carbon worked out well for you. I stopped watering mine 2 months ago and they’ve started growing back healthy limbs recently. 😅 Might get a few toms before it gets too cold. So definitely a hearty plant! I can’t get black krim to grow well for me (I’m just north of Ft. Worth). I’m sure it’s user error. May get some different seeds because I don’t usually struggle this much, and I hear it’s such a stellar tomato!
Thanks for taking the time for this post.
Thank you for your reviews!
Where do you get your Dark Star seed? Baker creek/rare seed just took it out of their catalogue so not sure where to source it. Its on my list for next year as my krims got steamrolled by blight this year.
Also have you tried Chocolate Sprinkles? It’s a brown striped F1 cherry that people rave about. It is my my list for next year as well.
I grew Black Beauty this year (the pitch black tomato) and ended up with 2 flavor profiles, sometimes within the same individual fruit. One was standard dark tomato – deep earthy flavor – and the other was STRONG smoky, roasted-eggplant-like flavor. It actually took me aback because it was so strong! Like someone punched me in the nose. I am glad to have experienced it for myself but I am not growing this one again lol
I grew Cherokee Purple and Black Krim this year with disappointing yield, only about 3 large tomatoes per plant before disease/blight took them out. What would you recommend I try in 2026 for highest yield potential? I’ve gotta maximize a small garden!
Try black prince! Very intensely flavorful, better than black krim and purple Cherokee, though more of a plum shape. Grown in 6a, Chicago in a container and had great yields.