🍅 Quick take: Purple Sunrise (also circulated as Purpura Rīts or Purple Morning) is an indeterminate, mid-season anthocyanin slicer brought into wider cultivation by Latvian seed saver Valdis Puliņš via an Austrian collector. The vine yields gorgeous oblate fruits weighing 5 to 11 oz (150-300 g) with creamy pale-yellow skin splashed with glossy, ink-black shoulders and tender, melting flesh. Growers from Moscow down to the Canary Islands rate it as one of the sweetest, lowest-acid yellow anthos available, setting every flower truss even through summer heatwaves. Full summary ↓
Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-11 Experience)
Seeds sourced from Valdis Puliņš. Gorgeous and delicious variety, sweet with pleasant exotic tropical fruit undertones. The vine reached 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. First fruits sized up larger than the advertised weight, easily passing 7 to 9 oz (200-250 g).
Acts as a mid-early producer and kept pumping out fruit right until autumn frost. Yield gets a solid 4 out of 5 from me.
Was very pleasantly surprised by this one! 👍
Edited October 30, 2019 by Tan4ik
Acts as a mid-early producer and kept pumping out fruit right until autumn frost. Yield gets a solid 4 out of 5 from me.
Was very pleasantly surprised by this one! 👍
Edited October 30, 2019 by Tan4ik
Grew it for the first time this season. Really impressed with the performance. Stout, vigorous vines, stellar yields, outstanding shelf appeal on the counter, and a thoroughly respectable sweet flavor.
Edited November 3, 2019 by irysska
Edited November 3, 2019 by irysska
Purple Sunrise (Purpura Rits). The exact background of this variety remains unconfirmed. Our Latvian collector friend Valdis Puliņš received it from an Austrian collector under the tags ‘Purple Sunrise’ and ‘Purple Morning’. In Latvia, according to their regional registration guidelines, it was listed under the Latvian name Purpura Rits. So across online seed circles, you will see it pop up under all four names.
This is a magnificent mid-season indeterminate with terrific productivity and a very extended fruiting window. It set every single truss without dropping blossoms. The plant stretches up to 6 ft (1.8 m) tall, forming a stout vine with regular foliage. The fruits carry rich anthocyanin, oblate and symmetrical with clean, smooth skin. During hot, baking summers, the fruit skin develops prominent, eye-catching striping.
The tomatoes feature tender, pale yellow skin topped with an ink-like violet-blue tan over the shoulders. Interior meat is golden-yellow, dense, moderately firm, with a velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture. Fruit weight runs mostly 7 to 11 oz (200-300 g).
Flavor is pure top shelf, with a soft, delicate tropical fruit complexity. For my palate, Purple Sunrise is hands down the best tasting yellow antho in this entire class. Huge gratitude to Valdis for sharing the seeds. I’ve spent the past two seasons distributing seeds to fellow hobbyists, and thanks to our forum members, several international breeders and seed savers have gotten hold of it and fallen in love with it too.
Edited November 13, 2019 by Tiffany
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This is a magnificent mid-season indeterminate with terrific productivity and a very extended fruiting window. It set every single truss without dropping blossoms. The plant stretches up to 6 ft (1.8 m) tall, forming a stout vine with regular foliage. The fruits carry rich anthocyanin, oblate and symmetrical with clean, smooth skin. During hot, baking summers, the fruit skin develops prominent, eye-catching striping.
The tomatoes feature tender, pale yellow skin topped with an ink-like violet-blue tan over the shoulders. Interior meat is golden-yellow, dense, moderately firm, with a velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture. Fruit weight runs mostly 7 to 11 oz (200-300 g).
Flavor is pure top shelf, with a soft, delicate tropical fruit complexity. For my palate, Purple Sunrise is hands down the best tasting yellow antho in this entire class. Huge gratitude to Valdis for sharing the seeds. I’ve spent the past two seasons distributing seeds to fellow hobbyists, and thanks to our forum members, several international breeders and seed savers have gotten hold of it and fallen in love with it too.
Edited November 13, 2019 by Tiffany
Purple Sunrise. Finally got around to growing this beauty 👍 and what a treat! 😋
An uncommonly gorgeous tomato: pale buttery-cream body paired with glossy, ink-black shoulders that turn nearly pitch black. Weight stayed in the 5 to 9 oz range (150-250 g). The flavor is exceedingly delicate and sugary, a truly stellar representative of the blue tomato family! 😘
Edited September 18, 2020 by Svetikk
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An uncommonly gorgeous tomato: pale buttery-cream body paired with glossy, ink-black shoulders that turn nearly pitch black. Weight stayed in the 5 to 9 oz range (150-250 g). The flavor is exceedingly delicate and sugary, a truly stellar representative of the blue tomato family! 😘
Edited September 18, 2020 by Svetikk
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Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant Architecture & Vigor: Indeterminate vine with regular foliage. Reaches around 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. Stout and vigorous with notable blossom retention, setting fruit reliably on every truss without dropping flowers even during sudden temperature swings.
- ⚖️ Fruit Characteristics: Oblate, smooth slicers running 5 to 11 oz (150-300 g). Skin ripens to a pale buttery yellow or creamy gold, crowned with dramatic, glossy indigo-black shoulders. In intense summer sun and high heat, faint purple-pink vertical striping develops across the body.
- 👅 Flavor Profile: Very sweet, low in acid, with a soft, velvety texture. Highly praised for avoiding the mealy texture or harsh metallic notes often found in early-generation anthocyanin releases.
- 📈 Ripening & Yield: Mid-early to mid-season. Produces consistently right up until autumn frost, with strong post-harvest keeping ability and resistance to cracking.
- 🌎 Trialed Climates: Thrives equally well in cold northern short-season zones under cover (Moscow Region, USDA Zone 4) and in year-round subtropical warmth (Canary Islands, USDA Zone 11).
🍅 Grown Purple Sunrise or Purpura Rīts? Did your vines develop stripes in the summer heat? Share your zone, fruit weight, and flavor comparison in the comments below!
👨🌾 Editor’s Note: The “Purpura Rīts” Alias & European Seed Lines
If you’re hunting for seeds of this variety in European trade circles, look for it under its Latvian moniker, Purpura Rīts (literally “Purple Morning” or “Purple Dawn”). Well-known Latvian collector Valdis Puliņš preserved and distributed this line after obtaining it from an Austrian hobbyist. It quickly spread through Eastern European grower forums and back into Western seed banks. While many yellow-antho crosses (like Great White + P20 derivatives) suffer from blandness, Purple Sunrise consistently ranks near the top of blind tastings for its genuine dessert sweetness.
If you’re hunting for seeds of this variety in European trade circles, look for it under its Latvian moniker, Purpura Rīts (literally “Purple Morning” or “Purple Dawn”). Well-known Latvian collector Valdis Puliņš preserved and distributed this line after obtaining it from an Austrian hobbyist. It quickly spread through Eastern European grower forums and back into Western seed banks. While many yellow-antho crosses (like Great White + P20 derivatives) suffer from blandness, Purple Sunrise consistently ranks near the top of blind tastings for its genuine dessert sweetness.
