Besides their appealing orange color and sweet flavor, there's another reason to give tangerine tomatoes a try this year. A one-month study led by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in California has provided new evidence to suggest that, ounce for ounce, these heirloom tomatoes might be a better source of a powerful antioxidant called lycopene than the more common red tomatoes. The difference lies in the forms of lycopene that the two tomato types provide. Results of the California investigation and one conducted by scientists in Ohio suggest that the tangerine tomato's tetra-cis-lycopene is more efficiently absorbed by the body than is the trans-lycopene of red tomatoes.

 

Aside from its health benefits, Tangerine produces bright orange, one-pound plus beefsteak-type tomatoes with great flavor and few seeds and you get the the pretty color as a bonus!