Purple Fairy Tomato Review & Photos

Grew it in the greenhouse, topped out over 6.5 ft (2 m). Tidy, narrow vine habit without sprawling all over the place, and only throws moderate suckers. Trained it to two main stems, though you could easily run three.

The fruit is a dark icicle plum with a pointed beak, maxing out around 3.5 oz (100 g) for me. Striped skin, turning almost completely black when dead ripe. Fruit shapes can vary slightly on the same vine. Really enjoyed the flavor. Not sure how it holds up in salt brine canning because I only grew one vine and we devoured every single tomato fresh before canning season even started.

My seeds came from Nadya in Volgograd, she got them from Lyubushka, who originally imported them from China in commercial seed packets. Here are my photos:

What a gorgeous stunner! How is it on maturity timing? Is it an early cropper?

A couple more photos. Unfortunately, no full vine shot because my camera gave up the ghost that summer.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Tatiyanka1

Meri said:
What a gorgeous stunner! How is it on maturity timing? Is it an early cropper?

Not strictly early, I would classify it as mid-season. What I loved about it was that it kept setting and ripening fruit straight through autumn frosts, all the way into October for me.

I received a few seeds from Valentina Vladimirovna, sounds like I definitely need to start them!

Meri said:
I received a few seeds from Valentina Vladimirovna, sounds like I definitely need to start them!

Yep, I brought Valentina some of these tomatoes. Put in at least one plant, you will love it. Another great perk was that it never caught a single disease, from seedling trays to season end.

Tanya, do you think it can handle being planted outdoors in open ground?

trofi said:
Tanya, do you think it can handle being planted outdoors in open ground?

I really think so. If the summer is warm, it should yield heavily. Almost all plum-shaped tomatoes seem to do fine outdoors. Only Tarasenko lines stalled for me outdoors, but those are late-season and our summer weather that year was pretty dismal.

Y’all are terrible enablers! Went right ahead and ordered a pack for myself. 🙈

Heaven said:
Y’all are terrible enablers! Went right ahead and ordered a pack for myself.

Marina, why buy them when you could just ask? I have plenty of seeds…

Enablers, because I swore I wasn’t gonna buy a single additional seed packet this year! 😛 No way I could take more from you, you already sent me a mountain of seeds. Besides, the purchase is done, this purple thing is on its way.

Marina, did you order retail packets or from a private seed swapper? If retail, what brand?

trofi said:
Marina, did you order retail packets or from a private seed swapper?

Don’t have them in hand yet, but they will be in the exact same commercial packet shown in the first post, bought via mail order on eBay.

Found an even cheaper vendor listing on eBay for rare purple Chinese seeds.

How is the flavor profile? Sweet or tangy? Which runs sweeter, this Chinese variety or Black Icicle?

Zulfiya, they are totally different varieties, but both are wonderful. 👍

Vera, I was counting on your palate! I know they are different types, but I need more specifics on flavor than just “liked it” before putting in an order. I brought up Black Icicle because it is such a widespread benchmark for dark paste/plum flavor.

When I grew Black Icicle, under-ripe fruits had a slight tang, fully ripe ones were intensely sweet with minimal acid, and overripe ones went a bit flat, though still decent.

Zulfiya, it is an exceptionally delicious tomato, hands down. The flesh has that texture people often describe as marmalade. You won’t regret planting it. Lyubushka sent me my seed start.

Seeds from Tatiyanka1. Great producer, very good flavor. Due to our rotten weather here, the fruits turned out quite small for me.

oxana said:
Seeds from Tatiyanka1. Great producer, very good flavor. Due to our rotten weather here, the fruits turned out quite small for me.

Wait, what scale is that? Are four whole tomatoes really registering at just 3 grams total?

Edited November 10, 2014 by Drosera

Oksana, did you have it planted out in open ground?

And Elena, to be fair, summer in the Urals this year practically did not happen…

elena1984 said:
Are four whole tomatoes really registering at just 3 grams total?

I am staring at that “3” on the scale in complete confusion too. The tomatoes clearly aren’t that tiny in the photo. Could the scale be toggled to ounces or something?

Thanks to folks for bumping this thread, helped me track down a lost tag! The commercial label in French and Russian got tossed by my husband when cleaning off the desk.

First year trialing it. Seedlings stood out from everything else with pale green stems that stayed light colored right up until planting out. The vine was strong, and developing green fruits were an intense, dark forest green, very unusual.

Yield was on the lighter side this season. I tested it for cold hardiness with an early outdoor transplant on April 10. Failed that test: both root systems rotted in the cold soil. Luckily, I had two backup seedlings sitting in the greenhouse that were later planted outdoors in the garden.

The fruits are gorgeous multihued plums weighing up to 2.1 oz (60 g). Flavor leans sweet with a delicate tang. What I loved most was the thick, dense layer of meat under a tender skin that has a crisp crunch like a bell pepper when bitten into, even on ripe fruits that slightly shriveled during counter ripening. I rate the flavor a solid 4.5 out of 5. September photos attached.

Those don’t quite look like Purple Fairy to me…

Could previous posters take a close look at my seven dark fruits and chime in? My photo was taken outside under direct sunlight. Earlier shots were a bit blurry, so maybe I made an ID error.

Zulfiya said:
Which runs sweeter, this Chinese variety or Black Icicle?

These are noticeably sweeter, but smaller, running 1.4-1.8 oz (40-50 g). Lyubushka sent me seeds from Volgograd, but from a single packet I got both pointed plums and round types. Both were gorgeous, heavy producers, sweet, and disease resistant. Definitely keeping it in rotation.

Edited October 21, 2014 by vikysia

Zulfiya said:
Oksana, did you have it planted out in open ground?

Folks, my scale glitched and I posted without double checking! The tomatoes are sized like large table grapes or slightly bigger. Grew them outdoors in the dirt, and they were tasty and high yielding.

Though judging by the past summer (if you could even call that cold mess a summer), it is hard to give an accurate rating since our Ural garden plants went through pure misery! 😄

Here is how Purple Fairy grew for me. Seeds came from Vera Tomatinka, huge props to her!

Elena (Rodebielesumer), the coloring on your harvest looks just like mine, but yours seem less elongated, almost like little pyramids or blunt hearts. Could that just be growing conditions? Did all of yours have that heart/pyramid shape? Mine came out more oval with pointed tips.

Superb cocktail variety: crazy productive, gorgeous, and delicious! 👍

Ran in the greenhouse trained to multiple leaders. Vigorous, tall vine that I had to bend along the ceiling framing, and it kept pumping out fruit for a very long window. Fruits are brownish-green striped plums with sharp pointed tips, running about 1-1.4 oz (30-40 g). Juicy, sweet, and flavorful.

Elena (trofi), big thanks for the seeds! 💐

Count me among the fans of this variety! 👍 Total candy. Firm texture and great sweetness. High yields, and the vine is not overly vegetative, seems like it produces way more fruit clusters than actual leaves.

Superb variety! Will grow literally anywhere. Ran it for the first time and it drew the short straw: a soggy, semi-shaded corner bed. Because of the shade, it stretched up to 6.5 ft (2 m), but set a massive storm of fruit despite the conditions! Sweet, addictive treats. 😋

Grew Purple Fairy in 2017 from Liliy’s seeds. Attractive, high-yielding variety. Checked my field notes on flavor and found I had jotted down “herbal sweetness.” Wonder if I tasted it before it was fully ripe. Need to give it another go.

On the second photo, it is right in the foreground, you cannot mistake it for anything else with that distinctive pointed shape.

Here is how my Purple Fairy turned out when I grew it two years back. What stood out most was how tenaciously it clings to the stem, very difficult to pluck free from the pedicel. And the flavor was noticeably sour.

Natalya said:
What stood out most was how tenaciously it clings to the stem… And the flavor was noticeably sour.

Natalya, looking at your photo, you definitely had an accidental off-type mix-up.

I have been growing this interesting variety for years now. Tall indeterminate. Fruits are cocktail-sized plums. Delicious, prolific, and gorgeous.

First-rate variety!