Popular and reliable with gardeners since Edwardian times, Black Beauty is an early-medium variety of aubergine. The sturdy plants grow to about 4 feet tall and produce good crops of 4" to 6" long glossy, purple-black, oval fruit. ... Learn More

This heavy cropping variety is everyone's favourite, producing seemingly endless bunches of smallish, ultra-sweet fruits, which resemble dark cherries and which have a very rich flavour. A current favourite in up-market shops. (Cordon) ... Learn More

One of the favourite fruits of the temperate world, blackcurrants produce numerous clumps of sweet, juicy, black fruits, heavily laden with vitamin C and countless other good vitamins, which are unbeatable for jams and juices. These ready-stratified seeds were harvested from some of the best cultivars in the world. Habits will vary a little but all plants will produce several kilograms of fruit when established. The dried leaves are sometimes used to make tea. These valuable plants are also amazingly hardy, surviving to below minus 40 F which coincidentally is minus 40 C, with little problem. Their main competitor for vitamin C production, the lemon tree, is long dead at this temperature. Prune very old wood back occasionally and these plants will give fruit for very many years. ... Learn More

This early fruiting (in UK conditions) hot pepper produces 30-50 distinctive fang-like fruits. The "fangs" are about 6cm long and change colour from dark green to purple to red but can be harvested at the dark purple stage. The flavour is like a cayenne pepper and can be chopped for cooking or dehydrated and ground into chili powder. It has a score of 71,500 Schoville units so is hot but not extreme. ... Learn More

This dark green, flat-round, kabocha type winter squash, averages 3-4 lb and has deep orange flesh which is medium dry and sweet. It is popular for its strong yet sweet, moist, fluffy texture, which bears a remarkable resemblance to chestnuts. ... Learn More

Whilst this deep reddish-brown Russian beefsteak variety is not as dark as some other "black" tomatoes, where it really scores is on taste which is strong, rich and sweetly-sharp (!!) with a hint of smokiness. (Cordon) ... Learn More

A rare black Japanese squash. The fruit are round with a flattened top and have heavy ribbing. The black of the mature fruit turns a rich chestnut colour while in storage. The flesh is golden and has the rich taste of hazelnuts. ... Learn More

A most attractive, rare and ornamental heavy cropping pepper with lovely purple flowers, producing delicious flavoured, ornamental black fruit which resemble mussels, and which ripen to red. (75 days from transplanting. Heat-3) ... Learn More

Originally from the island of Krim in the Black Sea this famous black tomato produces large, deep-mahogany beefsteak fruit with green shoulders and a very distinctive flavour with juicy fruit. Perfect for salads and cooking. (Cordon) ... Learn More

This Russian gem gives a good crop of even-sized, juicy fruits with deep mahogany skin and greenish-pink flesh. Our taste-testing result sheet said 'lemony flavour...very refreshing!'. (Cordon) ... Learn More

Very rarely available, seeds of this exciting, completely hardy plant, which comes true from seed, produce vigorous, fast-growing and erect black raspberry plants. These are versatile enough to be grown almost anywhere, the fruits having a unique colour with large, darkest purple-black fruits, full of anthocyanins, which are good for your health, and also have a special distinct 'perfumed' taste. They are less tart than blackberries, which they superficially resemble, and this makes them better for eating fresh, although they also make good jams. Black raspberries are the first raspberries to ripen in the spring, - with a very concentrated period of ripeness - and can be harvested in two or three passes. It also has beautiful white-backed foliage on long, attractive, blush-white canes, and is less susceptible to cane diseases and root death than other types. ... Learn More

This Ukrainian potato-leaved plant produces medium to large slightly flattened mahogany fruit with olive shoulders. The slices, which have a strong, sharp, distinctive flavour, display a stunning patterning and colouration inside. (Bush) ... Learn More

Henderson's Black Seeded Simpson (to give its full name) with sweet and tender, light yellow-green leaves, can be used as an early main crop lettuce, or as a cut and come again baby leaf. This old stand-by is quite bolt-resistant, and given really nitrogen-rich soil, it can get huge. Sow early spring (when the ground has warmed up) to early summer and late summer for autumn harvest. Has performed well in poor soil, grow bags and even in the shade. R.H.S. 'AGM' Award Winner. ... Learn More

The plants are usually grown for their tiny, heart-shaped seeds, jet-black on the outside and white inside, which grow in long, oblong pods. Mainly used for flavouring, their nutty taste is similar to, but slightly stronger than white or yellow sesame seeds. They are sometimes also used for their aesthetic appeal, or as a topping to white-coloured foods such as bread rolls. Sesame seeds and sesame seed oil are also used for food and skin care, having a rich tradition of medicinal use, and are also used in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for hair loss, and as a liver tonic. ... Learn More

A sweet and mild, very hardy winter radish with snowy-white succulent flesh and a near black skin which lacks the fieriness found so often in summer varieties. It has likely been grown since at least the 16th Century. ... Learn More