AMSEED American Seed Intelligence Platform

Brandywine vs Cherokee Purple

The two most-grown flavor heirlooms: which one belongs in your garden?

Brandywine Cherokee Purple
Breeding Heirloom Heirloom
Growth habit Indeterminate Indeterminate
Days to maturity 80-100 80-85
Fruit color pink purple-brown
Fruit size class beefsteak beefsteak
Typical weight 12-24 oz 10-16 oz
Primary uses slicing slicing
Introduced 1889 1990
Documented resistances 0 0
Saves true from seed Yes Yes

Disease resistance

Brandywine

No documented resistance, typical of older open-pollinated varieties.

Cherokee Purple

No documented resistance, typical of older open-pollinated varieties.

Traits

Both: Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, Indeterminate, Beefsteak, Late Season, Slicing

Only Brandywine

  • Pink

Only Cherokee Purple

  • Purple / Black

Origins

Brandywine

The most famous American heirloom tomato: a pink beefsteak associated with Amish growers and first commercialized by Johnson & Stokes of Philadelphia in 1889. Its potato-leaf vines and rich, intense flavor made it the benchmark against which heirloom taste is still measured.

Cherokee Purple

A dusky purple-brown beefsteak given to tomato historian Craig LeHoullier in 1990 by J.D. Green of Tennessee, with an account tracing it to Cherokee gardeners a century earlier. LeHoullier named it and released it through Seed Savers Exchange; it became the gateway heirloom of the modern movement.

More: all comparisons · every tomato variety · filter the full database

Sources & References

Evidence: 5 sources, including 1 independent reference.

  1. Seed Savers Exchange catalog & variety histories · Seed Savers Exchange, Community Collection
  2. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog · Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., Seed Catalog
  3. Tomato Growers Supply catalog · Tomato Growers Supply Company, Seed Catalog
  4. Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners · Cornell University Cooperative Extension, University or Government
  5. Victory Seeds variety histories · Victory Seed Company, Seed Catalog