organicgardener.com.au^31
References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4616444/
- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29287334
- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460827/
- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6680676/
Research testing
Much of the work identifying cis-lycopene tomatoes has
been done by the Heritage Food Crops Research Trust
(HFCRT). It is a small not-for-profi t research organisation
based in New Zealand. Their research director, Mark
Christensen explains that HFCRT have been testing
golden/orange/tangerine tomatoes to see which get their
colour from cis-lycopenes and which from beta-carotene.
Their website lists 60 different orange tomatoes with
varying amounts of cis-lycopenes. It’s quite possible that
many of the orange heirloom tomatoes available in
Australia also contain cis-lycopenes, but they haven’t
been tested. Only three of the proven cis-lycopene
tomatoes are currently available in Australia.
They are ‘Aunt Gertie’s Gold’, ‘Earl of Edgecomb’ and
‘Kellog’s Breakfast’. See box at right for seed suppliers.
Mark says: “Our research is open source, meaning
that we are willing to share seeds and knowledge as
we discover it with our global community.”
Unfortunately tomato (and other Solanaceae) seed
can’t be imported into Australia because of diseases not
yet found here that can be carried on seed. Stringent
and expensive testing are required fi rst.
The good news is that Margot White from the Royal
Tasmanian Botanical Gardens has been able to import
seed of more than 30 of these golden tomatoes and
will have seedlings for sale at their huge tomato sale,
which will be held on October 17 and 19.The future
What new phytochemical or new use for these
antioxidants will be discovered in an heirloom vegetable
next? The team at HFCRT has been testing a range
of heirloom vegies and heritage fruit for more than
10 years now, with some other very interesting results.
This work emphasises once more how essential it is
that we preserve our precious remaining heritage
of fruit and vegies. We don’t know what we might
lose if they continue to disappear.Moreinformation andseeds
ForHFCRTresearchandthecis-lycopenetomatolist:
heritagefoodcrops.org.nz
FortheRoyalTasmanianBotanicalGardenstomato
salesee:facebook.com/RTBGHeirloomTomatoes/
Seed suppliers of one or more of the three orange
cis-lycopene tomatoes: Seed Freaks – seedfreaks.com.au;
The Lost Seed – thelostseed.com.au; Tasmanian Natural
Garlic & Tomatoes – tngt.com.au‘Kellog’s Breakfast’PHOTO:
TASMANIAN NATURAL GARLIC & TOMATOES