Grow a dark-skinned paste tomato for rich sauces and roasting. Midnight Roma combines purple-red skin with fleshy red interiors, making it a useful harvest for pasta sauce, pizza sauce and cooked tomato dishes.
- Season
- 2026
Tomatoes for the kitchen
Midnight Roma tomato seeds
Grow a dark-skinned paste tomato for rich sauces and roasting. Midnight Roma combines purple-red skin with fleshy red interiors, making it a useful harvest for pasta sauce, pizza sauce and cooked tomato dishes.
Type
Paste tomato
Habit
Semi-determinate; provide support
Maturity guide
About 80 days from transplant
Packet
15+ seeds
Why grow it?
Choose Midnight Roma when you want a tomato with a clear place in the kitchen: a pan of roasting fruit, a simmering sauce or a pizza topping. Its fleshy texture suits cooking, and ripe fruit can also be used fresh.
At a glance
Crop
Solanum lycopersicum
Colour
Purple-red skin; red flesh
Variety history
Developed by Jim Myers at Oregon State University
Kitchen uses
Sauce, roasting, paste and bruschetta
In the kitchen
- Pasta and pizza sauce: Simmer chopped ripe tomatoes with your chosen aromatics.
- Roasting: Roast halved fruit until tender for a side dish or cooked sauce.
- Fresh toast: Dice ripe fruit for bruschetta and season just before serving.
- Preserving: For shelf-stable canning, use a tested recipe and follow its acidification and processing instructions.
Growing notes
- Start indoors: Sow about 6–8 weeks before your planned transplant date. Provide warmth and bright light.
- Transplant: Harden plants off and wait until frost risk has passed and the soil has warmed.
- Care: Support the vines, water consistently at soil level and leave space for airflow.
Explore tomato seeds
Tomato seeds CanadaSauce Tomato PackCommon questions
Is Midnight Roma indeterminate?
Its breeder and original seller describe it as semi-determinate. It benefits from support, but should not be treated as an indefinitely growing vining type.
Does purple skin mean the fruit is ripe?
No. Purple colouring can develop before the fruit is ready. Watch for the base to turn from green to red and for the fruit to soften slightly.
Is it an old heirloom?
It is a modern variety from Oregon State University’s breeding programme, released in 2021. That history is separate from the production location of our seed lot.
The 80-day guide comes from the variety’s original seller and is counted after transplanting. Harvest timing and colour vary with conditions; it is not a guaranteed result for this seed lot.
Cook your harvest
Use your harvest in these recipes. Check the variety notes and substitutions in each recipe.
Follow the growing notes in the description and on your seed packet. Sowing time, temperature and harvest stage depend on the variety.
See the description for this variety’s kitchen uses and the harvest stage that suits your recipe.
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