Black Prince Tomato

Black Prince Tomato, Sliced

The Black Prince tomato variety is a bit on the unusual side.  First, it’s a very different shade — neither red nor black.

Next, it’s more of an oval shape, instead of round or beefsteak or even the standard “paste tomato” shape.

The picture you see here is one Black Prince tomato that’s pretty well ripe; you can see that it’s more of a mahogany color, rather than red or black.

The shape isn’t showing really well in this photo; it kind of looks like an oxheart shape, and it’s not.

The Black Prince variety is an heirloom tomato and comes to us from Russia, so it’s a fairly early tomato.  In my Fall garden, it was the first to ripen fruits.

The plant itself is a little on the wimpy side, without a lot of leaves or stems.  However, I have been impressed with the yield, which has been very nice indeed

Black Prince Tomato, Not Quite Ripe

How about a photo of one that’s still on the vine (albeit not quite ripe yet)?

This is in the sunshine, so the color is lighter, and once again, it’s not ripe.  You might notice that it has “green shoulders” at the moment — the green mostly disappears as it gets fully ripe, but a greenish cast does remain.

Black Prince — Tomato Eating Time!

Here’s the big question…how does Black Prince taste?

I’m happy to say that the taste is very good.  While some people say black tomatoes taste “smokey”, I didn’t find that to be true.  Instead, it was a rich tomato taste – yum!

The flesh is a little soft, as with most varieties of black tomatoes, but reasonably firm nonetheless.  There is a good mix of juice and flesh — not a dry tomato at all!

I’m glad that I grew Black Prince seeds in my Fall garden, and I look forward to a continued harvest, until frost (probably January for me).