Fennel and Fern

Tomato: Tangella

Round, golf-ball sized and a rich orange all over, with no green shoulders - Tangella is a distinctive tomato. The cheerful tangerine colour goes right the way through the fruit and remains just as bright and colourful after cooking. It has a delicate skin and the flesh is soft, juicy and sweet with a refined flavour. At one time commercially available, Tangella is now rare and is one of many hundreds of vegetable varieties ‘rescued’ by the Heritage Seed Library (part of the Garden Organic charity).

There are relatively few English-bred tomatoes, but Tangella is one. It was developed by Dr Lewis Darby who worked for the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute in Littlehampton in the 1950s and 60s. He bred other tomatoes too, and was particularly interested in colourful stripey fruits. His most famous creation is Tigerella, a beautiful striped tomato which is still available in most seed catalogues. Several of his other creations which never made it to commercial release are available from the Heritage Seed Library, and include Darby Striped Red/Green and Darby Striped Pink/Yellow, both of which are delightful. As well as their beauty, all the ones I’ve tried have one thing in common: the flavour is fantastic! Most of them are sharper and fruitier than Tangella, but they are all outstanding.

Tangella has another advantage over many other tomatoes. Its orange colour comes from carotene (yes that’s right, the same stuff that’s in carrots) which the body needs to make Vitamin A. While most tomatoes contain some carotene, these orange fruits are particularly high in it, and therefore bring an additional health benefit.

Although it will grow happily in a greenhouse, Tangella seems to do best when grown outside. The plants are indeterminate, cordon types, but they tend to be quite sturdy and compact and won’t take over your garden.

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8:41 pmin blog, grow this, vegetables by Rebsie Fairholm 1 Comment »

Tomato: Tangella

  1. Orchidhunter says:

    I need to try some of these!

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