Cherokee Chocolate???

[maggie c]

I have two plants labeled Cherokee Chocolate, and they are both producing rather tasty tomatoes. But...they don't look much alike. The first plant is producing what I would call "normal" looking CCs. They are oblate, smooth, a nice brick color and look like the tomatoes in Carolyn's book.

The second plant is producing a completely different looking tomato in everything but the color. The color is the same, but the tomatoes are considerably smaller, oddly shaped, and ribbed. I put the picture up so that you could see the size and shape comparisons.

Is there this much variation in the Cherokee Chocolate tomato? Are the little one still Cherokee Chocolates?

[carolyn137]

Maggie, what was the source of your plants or seeds for Cherokee Chocolate?

The only difference between Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate was a spontaneous mutation of the clear epidermis of CP to a yellow epidermis of CC, and since single spontaneous mutations are permanent and heritable there should be not be any diversity among plants of CC.

but surely others here will chime in as well, so if you could indicate your plant or seed source that would be helpful.

At first glance I wouldn't consider the smaller odd shaped ones as true Cherokee Chocolate.

[nctomatoman]

There should not be variation at all (aside from the reasonable variation in fruit we see with any variety) like you showed....something is amiss with the smaller, lobed one.

[maggie c]

That was my thought on this too. There is just too much difference for these to be real Cherokee Chocolates.

Carolyn, I had gotten the seed in a trade as a "freebie". The one "standard" plant is producing beautiful tomatoes that certainly match the standard (I'm sure my neighbors think I'm crazy - standing out in my garden with the heirloom tomato book doing comparisons!) But the other plant has produced about five of these non-standard, so-called Cherokee Chocolates mini-maters. It is also not a particularly healthy plant - and is about to succumb to something.

However, though these little guys don't look like the standard, they are kinda cute and rather tasty. I may save these seeds and see what I get next year!

[dice]

Could the small one be Cherokee Carob?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by dice

Could the small one be Cherokee Carob?

Dice, what's Cherokee Carob and where did it originate from? If it's an OP known variety I would think that it wouldn't give such a range of small fruit forms.

When I Googled Cherokee Carob this AM I did find a website called Cherokee purple. com, which surprised me but just a person showing pictures of CP.

Nothing in the Yearbook about Cherokee Carob but I did find one variety, a cherry, called Brownies, sent to someone by Gary Millwood that appears to be brown or "chocolate" colored and is ping pong ball sized.

[dice]

[Cherokee Carob]
I just made it up ("chocolate lite", more or less, from
the health food industry of the last half-century). Sorry
if I sent you on a Googling wild goose chase (although one
does occasionally turn up interesting and unexpected information
on such quests).

[rsg2001]

I've posted before on this, but two years ago I had two kinds of tomatoes grow from my TGS pack that was supposed to be Cherokee Chocolate. Some were C.C. and some looked like it might be Black Plum - somewhat ovate tomatoes that were bigger than cherries but smaller than a regular size tomato. I saved them -planted 3 this year in a pot - and they're growing true to the one that looks like Black Plum. So I chalk it up to a mistake in mixing the seed varieties.

[camochef]

As stated by others, Cherokee Chocolate is suppossed to be the same tomato as Cherokee Purple with only a change in skin coloration.
I've grown both for a number of years and I've found there to be a taste differece in them too. Also, Cherokee Chocolate seems to have a longer shelf life than Cherokee Purple.
That said, I've found a row of seven Cherokee Purples can vary from one end of the row to the other, both in taste and appearence. Those planted in a different area or even a different garden vary even more. One of the reasons I've quit growing Cherokee Purple and started growing crosses like Bear Creek, Liz Birt, Gary O'Sena and Dora. I find they all taste better and do much better than Cherokee Purple/Cherokee Chocolate. Especially Bear Creek which just took over the #1 spot in my taste tests.
There will be many that disagree with all this and like I said in the other posting I'm just an old man that grows a few tomatoes, but I pay close attention to what goes on with my tomatoes. Both in taste and production as well as physical appearence.
I have a few different varieties that are somewhat closer to some peach trees when I extended my garden a bit further than I should have this year. If you compare whats growing on them to the same variety growing at the other end of the garden, you'd see the same results as in your picture. So location could play a large part too.
I've also seen what planting too close to Black Walnut trees can do to others tomato crops. Not a pretty sight either.
Wishing you the best with all that your growing, we all lose some here and there. One of the reasons to plant more than you require!
Enjoy!
Camo