Tomatoes with yellow fruits are one of the most interesting and amazing of their kind. I must say that it was the yellow tomato that was first brought to Europe from the homeland of all tomatoes — the north-west coast of South America. And this fact explains one of the names of the tomato-tomato. This word — borrowed through French from the Italian-pomi d’oro-means “Golden apple” or “yellow apple”.
The yellow-orange color of the fruit is the result of a combination of yellow and orange flesh and colorless or yellow skin. Different shades of color – from moon wax to bright orange-are the result of applying shades of skin and flesh, which, in turn, depend on the saturation of tissues with such an important substance as beta-carotene.
As you know, carotenoids-the substances responsible for the color of fruits — are powerful antioxidants. The importance of antioxidants for human life and health can hardly be overestimated. The mechanism of their action is associated with a reduction in damage from oxidative processes that lead to aging and reduced immunity.
The most powerful antioxidant is lycopene, a carotenoid responsible for the red color. However, for some people, it can be an allergen, and here beta-carotene comes out as a substitute. And yellow tomatoes contain a minimum of lycopene and a lot of beta-carotene, which is also a provitamin A, which is converted in the human body directly into vitamin A.
Therefore, when consuming yellow and orange tomatoes, we use the full power of the antioxidant beta-carotene, which helps prevent cardiovascular and even some cancers, as well as the entire “range of services” provided by provitamin A, including the prevention of cataracts and other degenerative changes in the visual organs. In addition, vitamin A is essential for bone, skin, hair, and immune function.
As a rule, yellow tomatoes have slightly less nutrients than their red counterparts. These tomatoes are very useful for people who have any metabolic disorders; these delicious fruits are most recommended for violations of salt metabolism and have shown themselves perfectly in the fight against excess weight.
In general, growing yellow and orange tomatoes, you will not only get great pleasure from their appearance and taste, but also thoroughly strengthen your health. The consumption rate is 100-200 g (3.5-7 oz) per day. Do not forget that tomatoes have proven themselves well in cosmetology: masks made of yellow and orange tomatoes perfectly rejuvenate the skin.
Varieties and hybrids of yellow fruit tomatoes
The range of varieties with yellow and orange fruit color is wide and diverse, this will allow everyone to choose something to their taste.
Let’s start with those who do not have the opportunity to go to a country plot. A home garden on a balcony or windowsill is all you need to take advantage of all the useful qualities of the varieties for pot culture — “Yellow Cap” and “Orange Cap”.
In pots, you can grow a hanging plant, the variety “Golden Bunch”. The fruits of these varieties — from 10 to 30 g (0.35-1 oz) by weight-have all the above-mentioned useful qualities of yellow tomatoes, even to a greater extent than large-fruited varieties, due to the doubled (compared to large) dry matter content in the fruits.
Since we started talking about Cherry … for growing in film greenhouses and open ground, the tall hybrids “Magic Harp F1” and “Golden Stream F1″are excellent.
“Magic Harp F1” – an abundance of golden-orange fruits with an unusually sweet taste and fruity notes, which can be eaten in the form of cherries or seeds — in unlimited quantities.
Sunny yellow dense fruits ‘Golden Stream F1’ look great in jars with marinades. The same group of abundant medium-sized varieties includes the variety ‘Banana yellow’-the plant is covered with delicious elongated fruits weighing 80-100 g (2.8-3.5 oz).
Of the low-growing, defining varieties, we note the “Golden Fleece” (orange fruit weighing 100-120 g/3.5-4.2 oz) and the “Golden Spark” – a sunny yellow oval very tasty fruit (120-150 g/4.2-5.3 oz).
Among the tall large-fruited varieties, “Yellow Heart”, “Altai Honey”, “Orange Heart” (fruits weighing 250-400 g/8.8-14.1 oz, with a thin skin and excellent juicy taste and aroma) have proven themselves.
A special group consists of two-color tomatoes, which have pinkish-red or crimson areas distributed on a yellow background of the pulp, like the “honey Salyut” variety.
Among the large-fruited tall varieties with the classic flat-round shape of the fruit, you can note “Surprise yellow”, “Honeydew”, “yellow bison”, “orange bison”, the latter is the champion in fruit size-up to 1 kg (2.2 lb)!
And finally-an interesting fact from the life of science. In tomatoes, the inheritance of the yellow and orange color trait is so complex that sometimes breeders, crossing 2 yellow lines, get … bright red hybrid!