Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-4 Experience)
Mid-season, tall indeterminate slicer, and easily one of my new favorites of the season. The parents of this variety are Cherokee Purple and German Red Strawberry. The fruits are large brownish-pink beefsteaks with deep pinkish-purple, meaty flesh. Rich, very well-balanced flavor with a nice sweetness. Fruit quality was great, no cracking at all. Grew it in the greenhouse and got a pretty good yield.
Edited February 14, 2016 by Drosera
Figured out why it has “Not” in the name:
A guy named Jay, who posted on Tomatoville as BrazosRiverGardener, is I believe the person who made the original cross, hoping to find a strawberry-shaped tomato with Cherokee Purple coloring. At first, Jay was actually able to find a pointed, heart-shaped purple tomato, but alas, over the next few generations, the strawberry shape disappeared and the tomatoes took on a beefsteak shape and size. That is why the name became Not Purple Strawberry!
Found that info online.
Grew this variety for a second year, and once again it really delivered on flavor – super balanced and leaning sweet. My absolute favorite among the dark tomatoes. First fruit set: Sent seeds out to lots of forum members who asked for them this year.
This one gave me average yields, though the fruits were all downright huge. The flavor didn’t impress me at all though, pretty mediocre.
On 8/30/2019 at 8:40 PM, Yulya said:
This one gave me average yields, though the fruits were all downright huge. The flavor didn’t impress me at all though, pretty mediocre.
I’ve been growing this variety for four years now, and I’ve never gotten fruits that huge. Could you snap a photo of the foliage? I’d love to compare it with mine. Also, tell me how tall your plant is. Mine isn’t all that tall – by the end of the season in the greenhouse it barely reaches 4.5-5 ft (1.4-1.5 m).
Even in this cold, rainy summer, it gets a solid A+ for flavor and sweetness.
Here is a photo from last year – the fruits are purplish-brown with a starry, shimmery skin.
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Absolutely delicious. Total lookers. On the smaller side. The plant isn’t very tall either – around 5 ft (1.5 m) in the greenhouse. Seeds came from Sofia 27.
On 8/31/2019 at 11:08 AM, ElenaN said:
I’ve been growing this variety for four years now, and I’ve never gotten fruits that huge. Could you snap a photo of the foliage? I’d love to compare it with mine. Also, tell me how tall your plant is. Mine isn’t all that tall – by the end of the season in the greenhouse it barely reaches 4.5-5 ft (1.4-1.5 m).
Even in this cold, rainy summer, it gets a solid A+ for flavor and sweetness.
Here is a photo from last year – the fruits are purplish-brown with a starry, shimmery skin.
My plant is pretty short too, somewhere just over 5 ft (1.5 m). By color they really are purplish-brown, though the skin doesn’t have that starry shimmer. At least I don’t think so… I’ll take a closer look this weekend. I’ll snap a pic of the leaves if I haven’t stripped them all off yet. Did some heavy pruning on the plants last time I was out there.
Best-tasting tomato of the year for me – rich, classic tomato flavor and sweet. The plant isn’t very tall, fruits are medium-sized, and yield is average too. Seeds from @ElenaO. Definitely planting it again for its flavor and beauty.
Mine came out a solid raspberry-pink color. Seed mix-up or the cross reverted, I don’t know 🙁
Full Summary: Origin, Plant, Yield and Taste
- 🌿 Origin & Plant: Bred by Jay (BrazosRiverGardener on Tomatoville) from a cross between Cherokee Purple and German Red Strawberry. While initially selected for a purple strawberry/oxheart shape, the line stabilized into a beefsteak, earning the name “Not Purple Strawberry”. It is a mid-season indeterminate that stays relatively compact in a greenhouse, reaching about 4.5-5 ft (1.4-1.5 m).
- 🍅 Fruit: Purplish-brown beefsteaks with deep pinkish-purple meaty flesh and crack-resistant skin. Most growers report medium to large fruit, though Yulya had an unusual strain with huge fruits, and Babanya had a plant produce solid raspberry-pink fruit (either a stray seed or genetic reversion).
- 📈 Yield: Moderate to good. ElenaN reported good greenhouse production over four seasons, while Yulya and Galka noted average yields.
- 👅 Taste: Rated as outstanding by three of the four growers who tasted true-to-type fruit. ElenaN, Uef, and Galka call it rich, sweet, and their favorite dark tomato of the season, holding its sweetness even in cold, rainy summers. Yulya, whose plant produced oversized fruit, found the flavor mediocre.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Six growers across USDA Zones 3 and 4 (Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ulyanovsk regions, and the Southern Urals).
