Cream of the Crop – Apricot Zebra

Featured Breeder-Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop Tomatoes is a joint project between A.P. Whaley Seed Company and Frogsleap Farm. The goal is to develop new lines of tomatoes with superior fruit quality, X-tended Shelf Life (XSL), and multiple-disease resistance. Our Flavor First strategy assures that our products also have exceptional taste. We will be offering all sizes and colors, many with stripes and/or unusual combinations of skin and flesh coloration.

This traditional breeding program started a decade ago with about a dozen heirloom types and a few newer varieties with striped fruit. The first-generation breeding lines were crossed to select new commercial hybrids to improve plant health, fruit quality, shelf life and disease resistance. We are now using marker-assisted selection to facilitate introgression of multiple disease resistant genes into existing breeding lines that have exceptional flavor.

We feel these new tomatoes will be especially valuable to home gardeners, small/medium sized open field commercial producers targeting value-added markets, and small to large scale high tunnel/greenhouse producers.  We will strive to develop products ideally adapted for each of these markets.

Most of the products released by Cream of the Crop Tomatoes will be F1 hybrids.  We will be able to stack multiple disease resistances, all the while selecting primarily for the best flavors, sizes and colors.

See our Facebook page for up-to-the-date information about the tomato breeding process!