Post by cottonpicker on Jan 4, 2011 7:41:59 GMT -6
THE NOT-SO SIMPLE TOMATO
Larry D. Davis
Who doesn’t love a freshly sliced tomato in the midst of summertime? It really doesn’t matter if we enjoy it on a BLT sandwich, in a crisp salad or freshly sliced as an accompaniment to a tasty meal. Without a doubt, it is unquestionably one of God’s finest gifts to mankind. I dare say we all enjoy a good tomato, but few of us really know or pay much attention to the botany, genetics or history of this wonderful, but common, fruit. As a farm boy back in OK, I helped my grandparents in their big garden and still remember some of the old-fashioned varieties that were their favorites…names like “Spark’s Earliana”(first introduced in 1900 and “Oxheart”or “Beef Heart”. They also saved their seeds from year to year from their biggest and tastiest specimens. My Mom’s favorites which she grew every year were “Super Fantastic” and “Porter” and I still grow “Super Fantastic” in her memory. I have grown and studied “the tomato” for several years… over 30 years… and would like to share some of it’s past with you and, perhaps enlighten you to it’s long history.
The lowly tomato began it’s history in the highlands on the west coast of South America…most likely Peru… as a wild plant centuries ago. At that time it grew wild and was about the size of a common pea and now known as “currant” tomatoes. The native peoples of that area started eating, enjoying and selecting the largest and tastiest specimens of that wild fruit and they saved seeds from it year after year in order to insure a steady supply. They continued replanting those seeds every year while selecting for the best specimens of the crop and after many, many generations they developed the full-sized fruit we know today!! By that time, it had migrated into Central America…and into present-day Mexico…to the Aztecs… where it became known as the “”Tomatl”” (in the Aztec language). “Tomatl” refers to the full-sized form we recognize today. During the 16th Century, the Spaniards came from Europe and they learned of the fruit and carried it back to Spain about 1521. From there it quickly spread to Italy and beyond and, according to historians and Ethnobotanists, the tomato taken back to Spain was most likely yellow in color. It quickly migrated to Italy where it was known as “Pomodoro d’Oro”…or Golden Apple. The rest is history! Can anyone imagine Italy…before the 1500’s…. NOT having their tomato sauce??
And, now, to address the Botany and genetics--- Tomatoes are classified (according to Lineaus, the father of genetics) as members of the “Nightshade” (Solanum) botanical family and as such they share characteristics with their “cousins”-the eggplant, pepper and potato. They are further classified as “esculentum lycopersicon” by the botanists. Practically speaking, there are 3 distinct “leaf forms”exhibited by tomatoes--- regular leaf (most common with serrated edges), “potato leaf”(same smooth-edged shape as potato leaves) and “rugose” which is crinkled and found on some dwarf types of patio tomatoes. Additionally, there are two main types of growth form for tomato plants--- Determinant & INdeterminant. “Determinants” give only one major flush of fruit per season, then die. This is the kind grown for BIG Agri-Business…Campbells, Heinz, Del Monte, etc. so they can send in mechanical harvesters to gather the entire ripened crop all at once! A big time and labor- saver for them!! On the other hand, “indeterminants” produce fruit continuously throughout the season until the plant is killed by disease or frost. Indeterminants are the best varieties for home gardens since they bear fruit over an extended period of time and are more productive. Additionally, tomato seed are classified as either “Open pollinated” (heirloom) or “Hybrid”. Seeds from “Open Pollinated” varieties may be saved for replanting the following year and the fruits will be identical to the parent plant. This is the original, ancient, type of tomato. However, seeds saved for replanting from fruits grown from store-bought “Hybrid” seed will NOT give a product that’s identical to it’s parent. It will be more like one or the other parents or something in-between due to “genetic segregation”. “Hybrid” seed must be formed by mechanical cross-pollination every year to form a new batch of seeds using two different parents. Seed companies closely guard their “secret breeding lines” used to produce their best-selling varieties, such as Big Boy, Early Girl, Better Boy, etc… Hybrid seed sold in the stores are designated by “F1” meaning “first familial generation”. Hybrid breeding lines are chosen for certain traits the seed companies desire for their products. They generally choose parents that are more resistant to certain diseases…or for thicker skin which stands up to the rigors of long distance hauling, etc.. Hybrids are also generally more perfect and consistent in shape which is what the consumer wants, ie. “round and red” like we see in the super markets. They may not be the best tasting, but they will usually be more perfect in form.
There are approximately 7500 identified varieties of tomato known worldwide and I have a personal collection of over 60 different varieties--- all “Open-Pollinated” heirlooms--- which I have bought or “traded for” worldwide. Included in my collection are varieties from Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Siberia, Belarus, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Pennsylvania Dutch community and each year in my Shannondell garden I grow about a dozen or more different varieties in order to taste their differences. Some are tart, some are sweet, others are well-balanced sweet & tart. They also exhibit many different shapes, sizes and colors. Shapes can range from pear-shaped to grape-shaped, peri-form, round, elongated, heart-shaped and oblate. Colors can range from shades of red to pink, purple, black, yellow, white and green-when-ripe. So far, our family favorites are heart-shaped, red or pink varieties from Russia, Italy and the US. Actually, I never ate a tomato I didn’t like!
Tomatoes are such a worldwide commercial and financial resource that there are several “Tomato Seed Banks” located in places such as the US, Norway, Germany, etc. where they keep identified seed varieties in cold storage in order to protect tomato genetic diversity.
Larry D. Davis
Who doesn’t love a freshly sliced tomato in the midst of summertime? It really doesn’t matter if we enjoy it on a BLT sandwich, in a crisp salad or freshly sliced as an accompaniment to a tasty meal. Without a doubt, it is unquestionably one of God’s finest gifts to mankind. I dare say we all enjoy a good tomato, but few of us really know or pay much attention to the botany, genetics or history of this wonderful, but common, fruit. As a farm boy back in OK, I helped my grandparents in their big garden and still remember some of the old-fashioned varieties that were their favorites…names like “Spark’s Earliana”(first introduced in 1900 and “Oxheart”or “Beef Heart”. They also saved their seeds from year to year from their biggest and tastiest specimens. My Mom’s favorites which she grew every year were “Super Fantastic” and “Porter” and I still grow “Super Fantastic” in her memory. I have grown and studied “the tomato” for several years… over 30 years… and would like to share some of it’s past with you and, perhaps enlighten you to it’s long history.
The lowly tomato began it’s history in the highlands on the west coast of South America…most likely Peru… as a wild plant centuries ago. At that time it grew wild and was about the size of a common pea and now known as “currant” tomatoes. The native peoples of that area started eating, enjoying and selecting the largest and tastiest specimens of that wild fruit and they saved seeds from it year after year in order to insure a steady supply. They continued replanting those seeds every year while selecting for the best specimens of the crop and after many, many generations they developed the full-sized fruit we know today!! By that time, it had migrated into Central America…and into present-day Mexico…to the Aztecs… where it became known as the “”Tomatl”” (in the Aztec language). “Tomatl” refers to the full-sized form we recognize today. During the 16th Century, the Spaniards came from Europe and they learned of the fruit and carried it back to Spain about 1521. From there it quickly spread to Italy and beyond and, according to historians and Ethnobotanists, the tomato taken back to Spain was most likely yellow in color. It quickly migrated to Italy where it was known as “Pomodoro d’Oro”…or Golden Apple. The rest is history! Can anyone imagine Italy…before the 1500’s…. NOT having their tomato sauce??
And, now, to address the Botany and genetics--- Tomatoes are classified (according to Lineaus, the father of genetics) as members of the “Nightshade” (Solanum) botanical family and as such they share characteristics with their “cousins”-the eggplant, pepper and potato. They are further classified as “esculentum lycopersicon” by the botanists. Practically speaking, there are 3 distinct “leaf forms”exhibited by tomatoes--- regular leaf (most common with serrated edges), “potato leaf”(same smooth-edged shape as potato leaves) and “rugose” which is crinkled and found on some dwarf types of patio tomatoes. Additionally, there are two main types of growth form for tomato plants--- Determinant & INdeterminant. “Determinants” give only one major flush of fruit per season, then die. This is the kind grown for BIG Agri-Business…Campbells, Heinz, Del Monte, etc. so they can send in mechanical harvesters to gather the entire ripened crop all at once! A big time and labor- saver for them!! On the other hand, “indeterminants” produce fruit continuously throughout the season until the plant is killed by disease or frost. Indeterminants are the best varieties for home gardens since they bear fruit over an extended period of time and are more productive. Additionally, tomato seed are classified as either “Open pollinated” (heirloom) or “Hybrid”. Seeds from “Open Pollinated” varieties may be saved for replanting the following year and the fruits will be identical to the parent plant. This is the original, ancient, type of tomato. However, seeds saved for replanting from fruits grown from store-bought “Hybrid” seed will NOT give a product that’s identical to it’s parent. It will be more like one or the other parents or something in-between due to “genetic segregation”. “Hybrid” seed must be formed by mechanical cross-pollination every year to form a new batch of seeds using two different parents. Seed companies closely guard their “secret breeding lines” used to produce their best-selling varieties, such as Big Boy, Early Girl, Better Boy, etc… Hybrid seed sold in the stores are designated by “F1” meaning “first familial generation”. Hybrid breeding lines are chosen for certain traits the seed companies desire for their products. They generally choose parents that are more resistant to certain diseases…or for thicker skin which stands up to the rigors of long distance hauling, etc.. Hybrids are also generally more perfect and consistent in shape which is what the consumer wants, ie. “round and red” like we see in the super markets. They may not be the best tasting, but they will usually be more perfect in form.
There are approximately 7500 identified varieties of tomato known worldwide and I have a personal collection of over 60 different varieties--- all “Open-Pollinated” heirlooms--- which I have bought or “traded for” worldwide. Included in my collection are varieties from Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Siberia, Belarus, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Pennsylvania Dutch community and each year in my Shannondell garden I grow about a dozen or more different varieties in order to taste their differences. Some are tart, some are sweet, others are well-balanced sweet & tart. They also exhibit many different shapes, sizes and colors. Shapes can range from pear-shaped to grape-shaped, peri-form, round, elongated, heart-shaped and oblate. Colors can range from shades of red to pink, purple, black, yellow, white and green-when-ripe. So far, our family favorites are heart-shaped, red or pink varieties from Russia, Italy and the US. Actually, I never ate a tomato I didn’t like!
Tomatoes are such a worldwide commercial and financial resource that there are several “Tomato Seed Banks” located in places such as the US, Norway, Germany, etc. where they keep identified seed varieties in cold storage in order to protect tomato genetic diversity.
its OK Larry we all do it .. Heck I have to RE READ that every year 
I have short term memory disorder and dyslexia ( WHICH I HAVE TO SPELL CHECK EVERY TIME 
) 
Stinks .. I even forget I have a grocery list 
