Tamarillo isn't really related to tomatoes. Yes, it's in the family Solanaceae but there are well over 100 different genera in that family that includes peppers and potatoes and eggplant and so much more. Cyphomandra is just one of the Genera in that family.
It's also called a tomato tree b'c back in Victorian times there was kind of a tomatomania going on and since the red fruits resemble roma tomatoes that's how it got its name of Tree Tomato. Which is confusing b'c there really is a tomato variety called Tree Tomato, which isn't.
In the Sunday supplements there are usually ads for it, but what they don't say is that it's a tender shrub, doesn't fruit until the second year and that the fruits, to many, are very acerbic,sour.
Yes, it is grown in CA and grown by many with an Indian/Asian/ African background b'c it's also grown there, and yes, there are different cultivars of it that have fruits other than the standard red.
I'm curious to know what those of you who grow it do with the fruits. Most folks who post at tomato sites have bought it as Tomato Tree, and once they find out it isn't a tomato at all, also find out that they don't like the fruits, and others not knowing it's a tender shrub also find out that they see it in the Fall but the shub is winterkilled.
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Carolyn
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