In 2005 I grew out seeds of the tomato variety "Delicious", a round, red beefsteak famous at that time for being the world record holder for largest tomato ever grown. One plant in the row of "Delicious" tomatoes, however, produced attractive, shiny, orange fruit. It was tasty and productive and large, but very different than the Kelloggs Breakfast that was my favorite that year, and the only other orange I grew that year. I saved the seed, intending to find out if it were stable or a cross with something else. I labeled it "Orange Delicious".



And then, I forgot about it, mostly. Twice before I've pulled the seed out, intending to regrow it, but until this year I never actually got around to it. Below is a fruit from this year (the skin's a bit dirty from the ash that was everywhere when I picked it). This looks stable to me. It is as I remember it--juicy, sweet, but not as sweet as some modern open-pollinated tomato releases. Well-balanced, refreshing, classic tomato flavor, but with that characteristic orange tomato aroma. I think that with the extra 15 years of growing, breeding, and selling tomato varieties, I appreciate this one more than I did the first time I grew it. It is also a very attractive tomato, and would display well for sale.



I have seeds fermenting and will make them available to people locally to see how it does for them. I have no way of knowing if this is a mutation or a stray seed of something else from the packager (Burpee, I believe, from a packet purchased around 2002, before I became disappointed in them). I've shared the pictures on tomato forums in the past and tried to find something like it, but not succeeded so far. I've never grown a tomato with this shape/color/flavor, but I've only grown ~800 of the >10,000 varieties of tomatoes in circulation. If it performs well for others, and I don't find a candidate contamination variety that Burpee could have sold before 2003, I will release it as Orange Delicious.

And if I do track down something else it could be before then, I will be glad to have finally solved this mystery.