The first thing many people notice about Cherokee Purple is that it's a pretty tomato. It has a beautiful, deep purplish-pink color, and the fruits are fairly regular in shape. The next thing people notice is that this is a tomato that is absolutely packed with sweet, juicy flavor. Cherokee Purple has a Brix rating of 5, which makes it a nicely balanced tomato in terms of flavor, but it definitely leans more toward the sweet end of the spectrum.
Cherokee Purple is an indeterminate variety. It doesn't produce very large yields of fruit, so don't rely on this as your sole tomato in the garden.
As for its origins, the Cherokee Purple is reported to have been grown by the Cherokee Indians, and is dated back as far as the late 1800s.