Quick Summary of Chernyy Radzha (Black Raja)
- 🌍 Origin: A relatively new commercial variety sold by the seed company “NK Elit”. Not much is known about its true pedigree.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. In open ground, it reaches about 1.5 meters (5 ft). The plant is of medium build/vigor with regular leaves (RL). Highly disease-resistant.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful anthocyanin (dark purple/black) shoulders with a pinkish-purple base. Weight ranges from 100-250 g (3.5-8.8 oz). The more sun it gets, the darker the anthocyanin becomes.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Juicy, tasty, with a very tender, “buttery” flesh and absolutely no hard white cores/fibers.
- 🥊 Comparisons: Looks and tastes incredibly similar to the famous Amethyst Jewel, leading growers to suspect they are closely related, though Black Raja’s bush is significantly taller.
Chernyy Radzha (Black Raja). I am opening a thread for this variety because, at the beginning of 2021, I couldn’t find a single review about it anywhere. I only found reviews for a plain variety called “Raja”. Tomatoes named Black Raja are sold by the commercial seed company “NK Elit”. The picture on the packet looked like a black-fruited tomato. I took a risk and decided to plant it.
In open ground, the bush grew to about 1.5 meters (5 ft). I trained it to 2 stems. It is of medium build, with regular leaves. The fruits have anthocyanin (purple shoulders) and weigh 100-250 g (3.5-8.8 oz). In full sun, there is more anthocyanin. The inside is pink. It looks very much like a brother to Amethyst Jewel, but the bush is one and a half times taller. It almost gives the impression that it was bred directly from Amethyst Jewel. Only the fruit is elusively, slightly different. But if you don’t know which berry is which, you could easily mix them up.
Yield is good, and it doesn’t get sick. The fruits can rot on the bush if left fully ripe during heavy autumn rains combined with cold nights. Occasionally they might crack, but usually, they stay intact. Ships/transports well. Juicy, tasty. The flesh is buttery. Absolutely no hard fibers inside. Simple trusses.
I only have this one photo. There is a lot of anthocyanin showing here. Usually, the fruit is more pink-purple.
Edited January 13, 2022 by Valentina-11
