City man grows freaky tomato

JOHN HAWKINS/Southland Times/Image ID 117850

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You might have heard of two-headed babies and other freaks of nature, now add the five-headed tomato from Invercargill to the list.

South City man Alan Blomfield said he had grown tomatoes for 25 years but never seen anything quite like the one he picked from his garden yesterday.

"There were four very separate tomatoes inside one tomato. They were all connected right at the top of the tomato," he said.

Once opened to eat, he discovered four fully grown, but slightly squashed, tomatoes growing inside the host tomato, he said.

"I have no idea what caused it but I do know when the flower came up it was really large. It was totally different to all the other flowers but it wasn't until I picked the tomato that I realised it had four others growing inside it." The tomato, or rather tomatoes, went down Mr Blomfield's hatch yesterday afternoon.

"It wasn't as nice as you would expect, a bit watery, not a lot of flavour to it."

Have you got any weird and wonderful fruit or veg mutating in your garden? Call the chief reporter on 2111111 or e-mail news@stl.co.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News