Orange tomatoes

OK ... this may be a dumb question ... but are orange tomatoes always heirloom tomatoes? Or do each one of the tomato varieties have different hues and colors within their type?

I picked up some orange ones at J'Town's Farmer's Market and they are quite tasty! Hadn't had them before.

I am a tomato neophyte ...

I don't think orange tomatoes are always heirloom. I believe that in order for a variety of tomato to be called a true heirloom it has to have been cultivated for at least 100 years (or something like that). I have a friend that works at Creation Gardens & they have a lot of heirlooms this time of year. They seem to come in all kinds of colors & shapes. He brings us boxes of the slightly bruised ones that they wouldn't be able to sell otherwise. And we all grab a glass of wine, slice them all up and have "tomato tastings". (I know. We're nerdy...) It's amazing to taste the differences in flavor, acid content etc. side-by-side. The yellow ones are usually a lot less acidic than the reds. The purpley reds have deeper flavors. And so on....

You can find both hybrid and heirloom tomatoes that are orange. I would ask the vendor that you got them from. The most common orange heirlooms at local markets tend to be Valencia,Striped German or an Orange paste type. A popular orange hybrid right now is the Orange Blossom,pretty good for a hybrid type. You can find tomatoes in pretty much any color or shape. Red,white,green,purple,pink,black,brown,orange,yellow,and there are many striped combo colors as well. Many will have one color on the outside with a different color "meat" on the inside.

I believe that in order for a variety of tomato to be called a true heirloom it has to have been cultivated for at least 100 years (or something like that).

That is one school of thought. Some people think for it to be true heirloom it must have been passed down by family members. Others say it means a tomatoes that was in production before WW2. One thing that it has to be is a variety that is open pollinated,meaning non hybrid. A hybrid plant wont grow back true to its seed. An open pollinated,if not cross pollinated, will grow out to be the same tomato as the parent plant came from.