More than a dark tomato

YOOM™ tomatoes stand out from the solanaceae crowd. With Spanish roots: Luis Ortega, a reputed breeder, wanted to create a tomato with new flavors and rich in vitamin C. For about ten years, he combined wild tomatoes with a high concentration of purple color, consisting of anthocyanins and glutamic acids, which are very bitter, with hyper-sweet lines. The result is a purple tomato, sometimes flecked with orange flames, with scarlet red flesh and a green gel.

Its texture is both juicy and crunchy. Its flavor combines salty, sour and sweet notes, matching up to the famous fifth umami taste described by the Japanese. "One of the most important identifying features is the star shape at the insertion of the stem, which appears when the stem is withdrawn. It represents the shadow of the sepals in the sun, because it is the sun's rays that create a reaction that gives the tomato purple color," explains Jérémie Chabanis, head of Syngenta's EAME vegetable seed business. According to him, the demand for aromatic tomatoes will continue to grow. Therefore, the creation of new tomato varieties remains essential. "We are now working on slightly larger or smaller sizes than YOOM™.

For more information visit: https://www.letemps.ch/societe/gastronomie-vins/les-tomates-yoom-ces-obscures-solanacees