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In related news - I accidentally stumbled upon a tomato variety that absolutely blew my taste buds. It's called Edioso in Italy and Tomkin in UK and other place

by eps 9y ago

In related news - I accidentally stumbled upon a tomato variety that absolutely blew my taste buds. It's called Edioso in Italy and Tomkin in UK and other places. Fruits are about the size of a golf ball, have ridges and wrinkles like pumpkins (hence "tomkin" = tomato + pumpkin) and they have this super tomato taste that is also intensely sweet. They were so impressive that I looked into growing them... but it didn't go that far as original seeds are impossible to get unless you are a farmer and seeds from the tomatoes themselves produce fruits that taste differently. http://www.hortidaily.com/article/2888/Italy-Syngenta-Edioso-wins-Best-New-Variety-Award http://www.hortidaily.com/article/2888/Italy-Syngenta-Edioso... - some photos

benbreen 9y ago
"seeds from the tomatoes themselves produce fruits that taste differently." That's interesting, do you happen to know why that is? My wife and I just started a little garden, partially based on growing seeds from peppers and squash that we've bought at farmer's markets, and now I'm curious to see if anything ends up tasting substantially different.
- ryandamm 9y ago
  Lots of fruit aren't true-breeding; the characteristics of the parent plant determine the quality of the fruit, but the seeds are genetically distinct. This is a major issue in apples, which typically have to be propagated by cloning and grafting to maintain fruit quality across generations.
  - markdown 9y ago
    Same with avocado pears, which is why you see the same tiny little Haas avocados in supermarkets all over the world.
- eps 9y ago
  Because it's the first gen of a cross-pollinated variety. They take two "pure" lines of species that are produced by self-pollinating the same variety for many generations and then cross-pollinate. This creates a hybrid. It tastes and looks great, but it yields seeds that are a result of _self_pollination, so some original traits get suppressed and some dormant traits activate. I didn't know that either, but apparently it's basic botany. Google up "F1 F2 seeds".
- Figs 9y ago
  I'm not familiar with the Edioso specifically, but I have run into another branded tomato produced by Syngenta called the "Kumato". (They're pretty good, actually, though I'm not a huge fan of the concept of patented plants...) That one has the same issue because it's a hybrid. See: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_seed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_seed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumato

by eps 9y ago

benbreen 9y ago

"seeds from the tomatoes themselves produce fruits that taste differently." That's interesting, do you happen to know why that is? My wife and I just started a little garden, partially based on growing seeds from peppers and squash that we've bought at farmer's markets, and now I'm curious to see if anything ends up tasting substantially different.

ryandamm 9y ago
Lots of fruit aren't true-breeding; the characteristics of the parent plant determine the quality of the fruit, but the seeds are genetically distinct. This is a major issue in apples, which typically have to be propagated by cloning and grafting to maintain fruit quality across generations.
- markdown 9y ago
  Same with avocado pears, which is why you see the same tiny little Haas avocados in supermarkets all over the world.
eps 9y ago
Because it's the first gen of a cross-pollinated variety. They take two "pure" lines of species that are produced by self-pollinating the same variety for many generations and then cross-pollinate. This creates a hybrid. It tastes and looks great, but it yields seeds that are a result of _self_pollination, so some original traits get suppressed and some dormant traits activate. I didn't know that either, but apparently it's basic botany. Google up "F1 F2 seeds".
Figs 9y ago
I'm not familiar with the Edioso specifically, but I have run into another branded tomato produced by Syngenta called the "Kumato". (They're pretty good, actually, though I'm not a huge fan of the concept of patented plants...) That one has the same issue because it's a hybrid. See: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_seed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_seed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumato