Story:
From Tatiana’s TOMATObase:
- This tomato was developed by J.D. Brann in the early 80s and was promoted by his family who owns Conroe Greenhouses, Inc.. It was exclusive to Conroe Greenhouses up until 2009 when other seed vendors also started to offer this variety. This explains 'C-Tex' and 'Special' in the name, where 'C Tex' refers to 'Conroe, Texas'.
- According to Conroe Greenhouses, Inc. Facebook page, J.D. Brann bred this tomato by crossing Early Girl F1 and Black Krim.
- Note: Special is an old American commercial naming technique. "Specials" usually refer to originally unique, custom versions of some standard product, or to "limited editions".
- First offered in the Seed Savers 2008 Yearbook by Neil Lockhart of Oblong, Illinois (IL LO N) and Susan Anderson of Elgin, Texas (TX AN S).
From Connor Greenhouses facebook page:
"Just a little history of the C-Tex Black Tomato. My grandfather J.D. Brann was very fond of this tomato and was responsible for developing the tomato in the early 80’s. When describing the black tomato, I often remember him saying that it’s just a “big, juicy black tomato that tastes great". This would pretty much convince anyone to at least try it out. That being said, most who have tried the Black Tomato know that if grown right, you can’t beat the taste. The actual coloring is a deep maroon but close enough to black. In developing the Black Tomato, an Early Girl was crossed with a Russian Black Krim to produce what we call J.D.’s Special Black Tomato. Or the C-Tex Black Tomato. While the seed is no longer exclusive to Conroe Greenhouse, we still grow the tomatoes locally and produce our own seed and the tomato is a staple crop in our annual spring / fall growing."