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Post by michaeljohnson on Oct 31, 2009 1:57:43 GMT -5
Apparently from what I have been reading- the most desirable and wanted tomato at the moment is one that is almost impossible to obtain. It is called the (Pachino tomato) from the Island of Sicily, and is now protected by special protection rights, it is a slightly bigger than a cherry tomato with a superb gourmet flavour to die for, and is served up in selected eating houses and cafe's. It is named after the main town in Sicily where it was first bred. there are only two sources outside of sicily which has a few seeds-one of which is in Sweden, Anyone going to Sicily for their hol's this year
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Post by ottawagardener on Oct 31, 2009 11:02:47 GMT -5
If I do, you know I'll order salad
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Post by bunkie on Oct 31, 2009 16:55:03 GMT -5
reading up on Pachino, it sounds very interesting michael.
i just emailed billmckay at Seeds of Italy (Grow Italian) to see if he had access to any of the seed. will let you know...
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Post by Alan on Nov 4, 2009 18:45:55 GMT -5
I appreciate all your tomato variety updates buddy and love that your tracking down such interesting and unique varieties and genetics! Keep up the good work!
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Post by michaeljohnson on Nov 6, 2009 0:51:12 GMT -5
Here is a very interesting web site relating to the Pachino tomato which more or less says it all, If you click on the video in the upper right hand corner it shows you acres of the tomato in Sicily + one other unnamed variety which I have seen before but can't remember what they call it. Just think of it all those acres of tomatoes growing there and not a darned seed to be had from them anywhere www.igppachino.it/
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Post by crazytomato on Nov 6, 2009 4:14:50 GMT -5
Michael that is a type of costoluto di .......,very heavy ribbed tomato,very common in italy.
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Post by bunkie on Nov 6, 2009 11:47:31 GMT -5
bill from Seeds of Italy said it's a no go for seed. he said they're 'keeping it close'.
just got this from Italian Seed and Tool...
still looking....
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Post by happyskunk on Nov 9, 2009 22:46:06 GMT -5
So who is going to order these from Sweden and share with the rest of us. I would, but I'm so poor right now. Is this a F1 hybrid though?
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Post by mjc on Nov 11, 2009 9:47:24 GMT -5
Great...it seems that there isn't one Pachino tomato, after all. translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.igppachino.it%2FIt looks like all the tomatoes grown in that area of Sicily have the IGP applied to them and are Pachino tomatoes, regardless of what exact variety they were. It seems that the 'cherry' may be a hybrid...Naomi F1. (Hazera Seeds...couldn't find it on any Hazera site, but Sunbelt Seeds lists it as a Hazera offering sunbeltseedsonline.com/naomi.aspx) The EU Common Catalogue listing for Naomi lists Hazera as the responsible party. There is a Pachino listed in the EU's Common Catalogue. It too is a hybrid...(Cois '94 Srl, Corso Sicilia 24, I-95100 Catania...responsible party/maintainer www.cois94.it/ ) I can't seem to find a description of this, but I would guess that it is the round or the cluster... I'd say, since everyone seems to agree (at least the Sicilian sites I found) that ribbed one is an OP variety. They don't actually come out and say it, but they hint at is with things like 'the oldest', 'grown for generations' and stuff like that. The few pics I've seen of the ribbed have it looking like a lot of the ribbed Italians...more heart shaped, as opposed to pear or oblate. So, the efforts on finding this should probably be on the ribbed variety, since at least the cherry seems to be a fairly common (in Europe at least) hybrid cherry...and not to be too much of a wet blanket, but I think the reason there aren't any seeds is because it's just a marketing ploy using standard/known varieties. That the only thing 'special' is the growing conditions...
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Post by grunt on Nov 12, 2009 2:32:05 GMT -5
mjc: Here's the pics I think you were talking about. and from another source, a clipped out statement regarding Naomi F1 (which I think is the Pachino cherry being talked about "On the basis of such results and perspectives discussed with Soressi, Nira Retig supplied with nor2 seeds, stimulated breeders from Israel to develop F1 tomato hybrids, heterozygous for nor2 or rin, producing firm, long- storing fruits, both on-vine and post-harvest. Naomi (Hazera Seed company) was the first F1 nor2/+ cherry tomato hybrid, rapidly spread and grown from Sicily to the North of Italy. These Israelian nor2/+ and rin/+ F1 hybrids changed the way of harvesting tomato, from picking fruit by fruit at turning stage, into truss by truss with red fruits, thus opening the era of the long shelf-life red-ripe tomatoes" What I think should be emphasized is that the Pachinos most likely develop their special taste from the relatively high salinity of the water used to irrigate them. They even have to be irrigated from specific wells, and with specific amounts of water. While doing the searches on Naomi F1 seeds, I came across an article devoted to intentional salinity usage for growing sweeter tasting tomatoes. In one of my more characteristic unthinking moments, I closed the page without marking the address, and can't find it again. Gist of the article was that careful manipulation of NaCl levels in irrigation waters will positively affect the sweetness, with a notation that all other nutrient levels must be maintained at correct balance. I did find this little gem, while trying to refind the above sited page pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf0733012?prevSearch=seawater+tomato&searchHistoryKe
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Post by canadamike on Nov 12, 2009 6:40:40 GMT -5
I would like to point out our friend Tim Peters suggested to me using salted water in the last weeks of growing tomatoes in order to increase the taste.
As fo rthe use of specific wells for the Pachino, I strongly suspect it is due to the ratio of fresh to salted water in them, depending on the dept of the fresh water table according to the seasons.
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Post by mjc on Nov 12, 2009 8:07:34 GMT -5
So, it is looking more and more to be a cultural practice than a specific tomato...
I'd still like to figure out what the other two varieties are, since there are 4 and I found what looks to be two of them...
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Post by canadamike on Nov 12, 2009 22:51:33 GMT -5
No need to spend time on this one, we have everything in our common genepool to be as successful as they are with a good marketing strategy.
Be proud of them for their salesmanship, forget the genetics.
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Post by michaeljohnson on Nov 14, 2009 1:17:22 GMT -5
That's real interesting info, especially the article by Dan, it seems that sea water has been used for tomato flavour for some time now, they used it in Israel several years ago- I wonder if strong solutions of seaweed extract would have the same effect, as sea water contains all the minerals they need.
Failing that- one can always buy packs of sea salt mix from aquarium shops for mixing up your own sea water for experimentation.
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Post by Alan on Nov 15, 2009 20:37:00 GMT -5
LOL.....Homegrown Goodness news service!
Doesn't it seem like everytime we look into many of these things the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper!
It's like I tell kim, it's not how deep the whole goes, but how much crap you got to wade through to get to the truth.
Interesting information on this tomato/cultural practice for sure.
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