Green-fingered gardeners are growing black tomatoes in the latest colour swap food craze

• Dark tomatoes 'healthier' than red variety, according to plant scientists
• 'Indigo Rose' starts green as normal but ripens into jet black
• Already popular in America, going on sale for first time this spring

By Ben Spencer for the Daily Mail

Published: 11:32 EDT, 23 March 2014 | Updated: 13:14 EDT, 26 March 2014

Unusual: The jet-black variety is said to be healthier than its red cousin as it has more anti-oxidants

We're already growing purple carrots, yellow courgettes and white asparagus.

But black tomatoes are the must-have crop for greenhouses this season, growers say.

Not only will the dark toms turn heads at the allotment society, they are also healthier than normal red varieties, according to plant scientists.

The new tomato starts out as a normal green fruit, but ripens to a jet-black colour.

On sale for the first time this year, the new ‘Indigo Rose’ was cultivated by breeding red and purple tomato plants, and is being heralded as a new superfood.

Scientists in America bred purple tomatoes contained anthocyanin, an antioxidant said to help fight diabetes and obesity, with normal red varieties.

Devon-based Sutton Seeds have secured the rights to start selling the new plants in the UK for the first time this spring.

Alfie Jackson, assistant product manager at Suttons Seeds of Paignton, Devon, said: ‘They are not as sweet as normal tomatoes and have a more savoury flavour, and are nice roasted or eaten in salads.

‘There are some dark coloured tomatoes but Indigo Rose is the only real black tomato and is the darkest that has ever been bred.

‘It was bred by Professor Jim Myers at the University of Oregon in the US and came about after a graduate student was interested in looking at health benefits in tomatoes.

‘They found some tomatoes with purple pigmentation and tests revealed that anthocyanins were providing the colour, the same as blueberries.

‘They crossed the purple tomatoes with some wild tomatoes and eventually came up with a black strain. This is the first time they have been available to buy in the UK.

American nutritionists advise people eat the less sweet version to fight obesity and help diabetes

‘During the growth process it starts out green like all tomatoes and when the sun hits the fruit it turns black rather than red.’

Demand for vegetable seeds and plants have soared in the last fortnight, as gardens come to life following a miserable winter.

Gardeners are opting in increasing numbers for rare crops such as okra, purple carrots and specialist vegetables used in stir fries such as Pak Choi, oriental mustard and red hot chillies, which fetch high prices in the supermarkets.

Homebase buyer Orla Forde said 26 per cent of all homeowners in the UK now possess a vegetable plot.

‘An entire generation is rediscovering the delicate flavours of vegetables cooked straight from the garden,’ she said.

‘Increasing food prices are driving households to become more self-sufficient.’