“People experience far more than sweetness when they bite into a tomato”

Rossafina and the art of breeding tomatoes consumers remember

“Consumers haven't forgotten what a great tomato tastes like. They just can't find it consistently,” says Julia Parry, VP Business Development at Harmoniz, who adds: “As a breeding company, we never saw this as a market reality to accept, but as our responsibility to change it.”

That commitment led to the development of Rossafina, a premium cocktail tomato bred to bring back the flavour consumers had been missing.

For decades, tomato breeding has transformed commercial production. Higher yields, stronger disease resistance, longer shelf life and improved appearance have all been essential advances. Yet, as breeding priorities increasingly focused on production efficiency and marketability, eating quality took a back seat, while °Brix came to serve as a proxy for flavour.

“Where flavour has become a commercial requirement, °Brix has often become its benchmark. Retailers increasingly specify minimum sweetness thresholds, and rightly so, as sweetness is one of the strongest drivers of consumer preference”.

According to Parry, however, consumers experience far more than sweetness when they bite into a tomato.

"True tomato flavour is much more complex. It is shaped by the unique combination of volatile aroma compounds present in each variety. Breeding for flavour is therefore far more challenging than improving a single trait such as °Brix, because it requires identifying, combining and balancing many different compounds."

For Harmoniz, that complexity was never a reason to compromise on flavour. It became the foundation of a different breeding philosophy.

"We saw the mid-sized tomato segment as the right place to bring exceptional flavour back to consumers' everyday experience with tomatoes. As one of the most widely consumed tomato segments, it plays a key role in shaping expectations across the category."

To achieve that goal, the breeding team combined sensory evaluation, biochemical analysis and genotyping to develop varieties around the flavour profiles consumers genuinely value. Rossafina was the result.

Described as "a tomato that tastes like a memory," and recognised with Gold at the UK Quality Food & Drink Awards and Two Stars from the International Taste Institute, Rossafina brings the rich aroma and complex flavour people associate with traditional home-grown tomatoes into a premium cocktail format for today's lifestyles.

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As Parry explains, "It's equally suited to sandwiches, salads, slow-cooked sauces or simply halved and grilled. Its rich flavour and lush texture mean that even adding a few quartered pieces to the side of your plate becomes a joy rather than a healthy eating chore."

Yet for Parry, developing a tomato around a target flavour profile with a clear category objective in mind was only part of the achievement.

"The challenge was never choosing between flavour and agronomic performance. It was proving that, with the right focus, modern breeding could deliver both."

The result is a tomato that delivers on both fronts. Consumers enjoy Rossafina's rich aroma, balanced sweetness and gentle acidity, while growers benefit from a balanced, high-yielding plant with regular fruit set and ToBRFV-HR resistance.

"We all want to be proud of what our work produces. Growers, in particular, are at the hard end of the food chain, and all that effort deserves to be both satisfying and profitable. Being part of a movement that wants more for tomatoes - more flavour, more fresh consumption, more cooking from fresh, healthier and better eating habits for everyone - means a lot to all of us."

Rossafina represents more than a premium cocktail tomato. It demonstrates how consumer-led breeding can re-establish flavour as a driver of demand, strengthen fresh consumption and ultimately grow the category.

"The need for better flavour is universal if we are to grow fresh consumption above processed foods. Once you eat Rossafina, you cannot go back. You become intolerant of poor-tasting tomatoes and demand more. We should all demand more of our fresh produce."

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