I can’t help them with their question of what’s happened to Greek Tomatoes – but I did love the names of the missing toms – Vravronas, Makedonia, Areti, Olympia, Apollonas, Artemida, A 200 and Santorini.
All very classical and god-like; lifting the humble tomato to a whole other level. They need to track them down just to be able to continue to let those traditional names roll off the tongue as much as the taste of the tomatoes tingle it!
Having watched this video (part of a series on Cheeseburger Chemistry!) I also hope there is a Greek variety of tomato called Delphi. It’s an enjoyable five minutes slice given over to the science of the tomato ripening. ( I haven’t had time to watch the whole series yet but the Pickle film also showed promise.)
And then if that wasn’t riches enough the video series led me to this whole data and science packed page on tomatoes. I haven’t had time to investigate fully – and whilst it might not help the Greeks in their quest – there’s an awful lot else on tomatoes to be found here.
And then these are the tomato stories no-one wants – the E.coli crisis - whether it be cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce it’s not something anyone wants served up with the food we all choose to eat but can’t choose to be completely self sufficient in.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought of you when I heard about the ‘don’t eat unwashed tomatoes’ scare story. I suppose you can get ill from homegrown produce just as easily, but I felt a little smug – at least I know how my tomatoes (and hopefully cucumbers and other saladings) have been grown, and any problems are my own. You know what I mean?
And I’m terrible in that I never bother washing fruit etc before I eat it – and I do know what you mean about problems being your own – consumers have to trust suppliers and when they can’t – how do you know what is safe to eat or not – and how to know what to believe about the advice that follows scary situations such as this. And much as I love growing tomatoes – it’s a hobby – and so real eating comes from relying on commercial growers and suppliers…but it does make me think about gardens in general – and thinking how underutlized our outdoor space is when it comes to growing food for ourselves …I think that it’s good to know how to grow your own food – even it’s just a tiny bit… it gives a sense of some kind of independence from the commercial food chain – no matter how “unreal” in terms of the total amount of food buy…
I never wash anything either – actually, I do it more with my own, as being totally chemical-free, they tend to get a few bugs on them (I must do better, too, as I found a couple of froghoppers in my pasta sauce the other day). And I look around at the gardens and similar small spaces, and think, if only everyone felt this way, we could grow plenty, especially of salad veg, which is easy and quick (especially leaves). Maybe one day, especially with food prices increasing. As for E. coli, it’s been the case for years that the odd food scare over unwashed veggies comes up, and the advice never changes – I think it’s just a wakeup to those self-satisfied folks who think vegetables are inherently saintly…
Oh, and one more thing… (I’ve been without the internet for a few days, so forgive me!), having read that article, do you happen to know how we distinguish ‘hybrid’ from other varieties? I mean, every variety is a hybrid, in the sense that you create a new variety by hybridising two others (or allowing natural hybridisation, though I gather with tomatoes that’s less common). Is it the genetic stability thing, like F1 versus Fseveral? I.e., is “hybrid” a shorthand way of saying “unstable hybrid”, excluding stable hybrids? And if you do know, maybe you could do an article on it?
‘A 200′ is such a romantic name for a tomato, don’t you think? Aside from that, the others do sound grand though. Tasteless toms are a problem here in wintet too – I’ve given up buying them between November and February. But the punnet of Holland-grown baby plum tomatoes I bought last week were tasty as anything you’d buy in the shops, so perhaps the Greek shoppers need to be more selective about their purchases.
The E.Coli outbreak is tragic, not only for the victims and their families but for growers, suppliers and consumers. I hope its source is traced and those responsible are brought to book. Food poisoning doesn’t just ‘happen’. As growers, we can control most of the variables and know we’ll get a healthy, uncontaminated product from it. I’ll certainly be more aware about washing vegetables and fruit from now onwards, wherever it comes from.
Scyrene, this page is, I think, a good place to start learning a little about tomato genetics and why hybrids behave as they do. You are right about creating new varieties with hybridisation – unfortunately there aren’t any tell-tale signs of a plant being a secret hybrid except if it produced something unexpected. It’s a fascinating subject.
All this post is IMO, of course.