Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 4 Experience)
Grew it in the greenhouse, vine reached up to 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. Yield was about average, fruits weighed up to 7 oz (200 g). Classic tomato flavor, but surprisingly for a dark tomato it had a nice tang to it (a bit too tart for my liking, honestly). They sure look cool though. It’s possible the shade it was growing in affected both the taste and the yield.
Going by the looks of the fruits, it strongly resembles Chocolate Stripes (a lot of folks around here just call it Striped Chocolate) 😉
But the CS vine gets taller, and the fruits run larger…
Alexander, did you happen to compare the taste to CS?
Quote by AlexanderS
Going by the looks of the fruits, it strongly resembles Chocolate Stripes..
Alexander! They are completely different.
Quote by ElenaN
Alexander! They are completely different.
…
I took a look… Honestly, even on Tatiana’s site they don’t look completely different to me. Very similar, just slight differences 🤷♂️
And Alexander’s pics look exactly like my CS 😉
I’ll post a riddle on my own thread later about CS, it doesn’t just look like Gold Stripes 😉
Quote by ElenaN
Alexander! They are completely different.
…
Chocolate Stripes: “Very similar, if not identical to Gold Stripes” 😉
My loose translation of that is that they are basically impossible to tell apart 🤷♂️
And she also writes under Gold Stripes: “Al Anderson of Troy, Ohio (OH AN A) said that it is a darker colored version of Chocolate Stripes, and then – but I did not notice much difference”
So Anderson said Gold Stripes is a darker version of Chocolate Stripes, but she didn’t see much difference herself 🤷♂️
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and The Chocolate Stripes Debate
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate vines, growing up to 5 feet (1.5 m) in a greenhouse.
- 📈 Yield: Average, though growing in a shaded location may have impacted the harvest.
- 👅 Taste: Classic tomato flavor with a pronounced tang, which is somewhat unusual for a dark tomato. Sandr found it a bit too tart for his preference.
- 📦 Storage: Fruits weigh up to 7 oz (200 g) and feature striking dark stripes.
- 🔍 The Debate: Is it just Chocolate Stripes? The thread dives into Tatiana’s TOMATObase, noting that even prominent seed savers like Al Anderson found the two strains to be nearly identical, save for perhaps a slightly darker hue on Gold Stripes.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Three growers contributed to the discussion, with one providing hands-on growing feedback from Zone 4.
