Midnight Roma Tomato- NEW RELEASE IN AUSTRALIA
Midnight Roma is not your average roma tomato.
With dramatic deep purple-black skin, thick meaty flesh, low moisture, and a rich, smoky sweetness, this striking variety brings flavour, beauty, and nutrition to the world of sauce tomatoes.
Most romas are grown for one thing: reliability. They are the dependable workhorses of preserving season — productive plants that yield crates of dense fruit for passata, bottling, chutney, and tomato sauce. Flavour and colour are usually secondary considerations.
Midnight Roma changes that.
Australian growers now have the opportunity to trial one of the most talked-about modern roma tomatoes.
Breeding Story
Dr. Jim Myers of Oregon State University is already well known for developing the groundbreaking Indigo Rose tomato and for his pioneering work breeding tomatoes rich in anthocyanins and other phytonutrients.
With Midnight Roma, Dr. Myers set out to create something genuinely different: a richly flavoured, darkly pigmented processing tomato with dense low-moisture flesh, heavy yields, and resistance to verticillium wilt — all while retaining the practicality growers expect from a true roma.
The result is a roma tomato with both culinary depth and striking visual appeal.
Dan Barber on Midnight Roma
“In the kitchen, the skins, loaded with pectin, and puréed with its own water and nothing else, give you hauntingly purple jelly.”
— Dan Barber, chef at Blue Hill and co-founder of Row 7 Seeds
Culinary Performance
The firm, meaty flesh cooks down rapidly into thick, velvety sauce with extraordinary depth of colour — from rich crimson to dusky burgundy depending on preparation — while heat and reduction intensify its rich, smoky character. The dense texture also holds beautifully under high heat.
This is the kind of tomato that makes you want to dedicate an entire weekend to making passata — because jars of this richly coloured sauce lining your larder inspire thoughts of weekend pizzas, rich winter stews, and deeply nourishing soups.
Grower Traits
Elongated fruits develop their deepest purple colouring in full sun and ripen to dusky mahogany-red. Productive semi-determinate plants carry generous clusters of fruit that hold well on the vine.
Why Grow Midnight Roma?
- Exceptional tomato for sauce, passata, bottling, and preserving
- Thick, dense flesh with minimal moisture
- Rich smoky flavour uncommon in roma tomatoes
- Deep anthocyanin pigmentation
- Productive semi-determinate plants
- Excellent roasted or grilled
- Bred by Dr. Jim Myers at Oregon State University
Ripeness Guidance
Midnight Roma can confuse first-time growers because immature fruits begin almost pitch black.
Harvest when the purple-black skin softens to a dusky brownish-red and the fruit yields slightly to gentle pressure. Fruits also develop a subtle blush of red near the base as they mature. Fully ripe fruits develop remarkable depth of colour both inside and out.
Semi-determinate plants tend to ripen over a concentrated window, making Midnight Roma an outstanding preserving tomato.
Nutritional Profile
The dark indigo skin is rich in anthocyanins — the same antioxidant pigments found in blueberries — giving Midnight Roma both its remarkable colour and nutritional intrigue.
Anthocyanins are the pigments responsible for the deep purple and blue colouring found in many richly coloured fruits and vegetables.
Exclusive Australian Release
Transition Farm is proud to hold the exclusive licence to produce and sell Midnight Roma seed in Australia.
Limited seed available for the first Australian release.
