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diclemeg

Pachino tomatoes

diclemeg
14 years ago

Has anyone here ever tried to grow Pachino tomatoes...the ones from Sicily. I used to live in Rome and they were the best tomatoes to eat. Just fabulous.

Franchi seeds in Italy says they are closely guarded by the people in that town, and I don't think seeds are for sale, but I doubt that they are F1s.

Comments (9)

  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Hey Gino; I just looked in the 2007 Yearbook from SSE. One person listed it then.
    It is described as "80-85 days,indet.,ribbed, sometimes catfaced, 4-6 oz fruitintense tangy flavor,good fresh,great for sauce, good yeild, Orvieto variety dev.from a Sicilian strain,Italy. I don,t have the 2008 yearbook handy. I quit my membership after the Founder was ousted. I will check my Euro.sources later to see what they have.Sounds Like a Great Tomato. I don't know how I missed this one.
    Fridom-

  • carolyn137
    14 years ago

    Below is a Google link on the variety Pachino. One link says it's an F1 hybrid. I thought I'd found a seed source at a Swedish site but the blurb was whited out, so no seeds for sale.

    In the 2009 SSE Yearbook there's the same listing that Zebraman referred to above, and only the one listing.

    Listings in the SSE Yearbook should not include hybrids so I don't know if this variety is a hybrid or OP.

    I suggest you contact Bill at Grow Italian who sells only Franchi seeds and ask him if he can find out a seed source and whether the variety is hybrid or OP:

    http://www.growitalian.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi

    After reading quite a few of the links via Google I tend to think that it might indeed be a hybrid just b'c of the uses, places of cultivation, etc. that are noted.

    Carolyn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Google Search; Pachino tomato

  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Hey Gino; It is Open Polinated and I have found a source and I am waiting on an email from them. When I get it i'll let you know.
    Fridom

  • diclemeg
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Fridom,
    I lived in Italy for four or so years, and while there, used to eat them all the time, and can say they were perhaps the best tomato I've ever had. All they needed was a little olive oil and salt. They would make the best fresh sauce with fish ever, so much that you'd only want to cook them on high heat for five minutes and thats it. I haven't been back since 2007, and did not even dawn upon me to find the seeds and bring some back (or if it is even legal for that matter), but probably because this was the first year I grew anything.

    Last week I contacted the Franchi seeds distributor stateside and they said the people in the Pachino region where they grow them, have food patented the tomato, which is allowable under Italian Law, much like they do with the parmgiano cheese in the Parma region. They said that the seeds are not commercially available.

    I wonder if the Pachino tomatoes themselves are F1 or not. My guess is yes, so the seeds from them wouldn't come true. But maybe not...I hope not, for our sake.

    Fridom, the thing about most italian food I tried to bring home when I returned permanently to the states, is that the italian food truly is area-specific.. for instance, the same bottle of wine made there and opened and drank there tastes infinitely better than the same bottle brought back here, due to climate, air, everything. The only thing that seemed to transcend the ocean well was certain cheeses. But the wine...forget it, it was horrible. The best wine I ever had, and I bring back a bottle, and its awful, whether due to pressurization on plane, temperature, whatever. I wonder if the same thing applies to the Pachino tomato, because they grow it in near Siracusa, on the Sea, where the water and air is salty, the dirt is volcanic, there is a very specific sea breeze called the Sirocco winds that come from Africa, etc. Maybe it won't do anything here at all.

    If you found a legit source and that they are the true Pachino, then good job Fridom, once again !

  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Hey Gino; There are 3 types of Pachino cultivars:

    1. smooth and round (ping pong ball sized), Sweet taste
      2.Costoluto (ribbed) Intense Tangy taste
    2. ciliegino (cherry) double truss type. Really sweet.
      Which one are you seeking?
  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Hey Gino; This is from one of my contacts in Sweden. I haven't ordered from Michael, however I do trade with people in Sweden and a Phyto-Sanitary Certificate is not required. His Email is tomater@tomatsidan.se also check out his website below. He lists one of the Pachino Cultivars but no description.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pachino Tomato in Denmark

  • diclemeg
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Fridom.... it had to have been the #3. the cilieigino ones for those were the ones i'd eat over there.

  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Gino: Contact a friend tha you have there and have them save and send you seed.This is the only one of the three that I can't find seeds to. They might be avail. here just not as Pachino.

  • zebraman
    14 years ago

    Hey; I just received an email telling me that #2.Costoluto (ribbed) Intense, Tangy taste were on there way, (seeds).
    This always happens when I am looking for a source for someone else.

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