Tomato stories

[Fred Hempel]

Everyone loves a tomato story -- like this one about Lucky Tiger that I just ran across online:

an absolute masterpiece! Slicing-type fruits are stunning, inside and out! This sister selection to Blue Beauty yields loads of 5-ounce, beefsteak-type fruits, very meaty and containing very few seeds. First they ripen yellow, then more toward orange when very ripe. Incredibly attractive with the black anthocyanin splashes really contrasting with the lighter colored skin. The sweet, juicy flesh is marbled yellow to red, and the flavor is fruity and superb. Unusually heat-tolerant; the fruits are great keepers.

Sounds good, except that Blue Beauty was bred by someone else.

And there is no anthocyanin in Lucky Tiger.

And of course, Lucky Tiger is neither a beefsteak or an Heirloom.

Was this description made up by random word associations?

[heirloomtomaguy]

Where do these so called seed companies get this crud. Not even close in any world. A beefsteak? The picture they use is obviosly not a beefsteak. Im wondering if someone wrote the wrong story for the variety on accident because no one is that far gone.

[Fred Hempel]

Interestingly, the item has been removed.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Interestingly, the item has been removed.

Hmmm, and now to find out what the person's username here at Tville is.

Carolyn

[Fred Hempel]

Not necessarily true. I emailed the seller before I posted this, and they responded indicating that someone misled them as to what Lucky Tiger was like.

But the description was so outlandish, I couldn't stop myself from posting here too.

Besides, maybe the person is on to something. Lucky Tiger might sell better as a beefsteak with anthocyanin. It hasn't done that great as a dirty rust-green elongated cherry.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Not necessarily true. I emailed the seller before I posted this, and they responded indicating that someone misled them as to what Lucky Tiger was like.

But the description was so outlandish, I couldn't stop myself from posting here too.

Besides, maybe the person is on to something. Lucky Tiger might sell better as a beefsteak with anthocyanin. It hasn't done that great as a dirty rust-green elongated cherry.

OK, you did contact the person first, but in my still intact brain I was thinking of a TV show I used to watch,you are far too young to remember it butit was called Truth or Consequences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences

But you are saying that the consequences in this case might not be all that bad, as to Lucky Tiger selling better as a beefsteak.

Carolyn

[Fred Hempel]

Yes. And I am contemplating using a random word generator to "spice up" the descriptions of the tomatoes on my website.

[maxjohnson]

I'm a sucker for a good tomato story, I might grow a variety if it have an interesting history.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by maxjohnson

I'm a sucker for a good tomato story, I might grow a variety if it have an interesting history.

Tomato histories are my passion,but then there are those who go to the Saratoga Racetrack which is not that far from me and bet on the NAMES of the horses as to what they think might be best to waste their money on,bad sentence,but you get my drift.

And YES,even the names that are given to some tomato varieties are deliberate to ramp up interest.Some of my examples might include

The Thong
Money A$$
Girls Girls Weird thing,or whatever
Spike's Belly Button
Sakarnyni Slon,pink elephant
Dikaya Roza,wild rose
King Kong
Purple Dream
Grandma's Secret


...and many more.

Carolyn

[imp]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

OK, you did contact the person first, but in my still intact brain I was thinking of a TV show I used to watch,you are far too young to remember it butit was called Truth or Consequences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences

But you are saying that the consequences in this case might not be all that bad, as to Lucky Tiger selling better as a beefsteak.

Carolyn

I remember that show- Bob Barker was the host, I think.

[creeker]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

OK, you did contact the person first, but in my still intact brain I was thinking of a TV show I used to watch,you are far too young to remember it butit was called Truth or Consequences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences

But you are saying that the consequences in this case might not be all that bad, as to Lucky Tiger selling better as a beefsteak.

Carolyn

Dare I mention my home town--Truth or Consequences, New Mexico? They used to bring the show to town for the annual Ralph Edwards Fiesta til the dear old man passed a few years ago. Big doin's.

[Gardeneer]

Most seed companies just copy the description from another place. Give you an example
RIESENTRAUBE:

It is English translation (from German) is: GIANT GRAPE.

But somehow ( someone) translated it as BUNCH OF GIANT GRAPES.
And everybody is translating it that way. First of all : Traube means "grape" (singular)
Secondly where does the "Bunch of" come from ?

Gardeneer

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Most seed companies just copy the description from another place. Give you an example
RIESENTRAUBE:

It is English translation (from German) is: GIANT GRAPE.

But somehow ( someone) translated it as BUNCH OF GIANT GRAPES.
And everybody is translating it that way. First of all : Traube means "grape" (singular)
Secondly where does the "Bunch of" come from ?

Gardeneer

If you had looked in my heirloom tomato book you would have seen the following and I'm copying it finger by finger from that book

First, on the page where the picture is shown

( Riesentraube means "giant bunch of grapes" OR"large grape", singular, CJM, in German, which accurately describes the fruit clusters)

We are talking about a multiflora as in single stalk many blossoms.

And in the appendix

(OS,means original source, A very old European variety that has been documented by Will Weaver as being grown in PA in the mid- 1800 hundreds. Craig Lehoullier via Curtis Choplin who received seeds from the German Seed bank,MS,meaning my source,was Curtis,who was a long time SSE member who lived in FL

Weaver had also found out that the same variety was known by different names in some other countries and that it was known in Hungary as Goat's T*T,which describes the nipple at the blossom end.

So we have it with its German spelling b'c that's where Curtis got it from.

From time to time I have made negative comments about WWW, as others have, see True Black Brandywine in the Legacy Forum for just one example of that, but he was an excellent food historian,and he was also fluent in what's called PA Dutch, a form of German,as well as standard German and I agree with him that it was probably brought to the USA initially by German immigrants.

He is still active and has his own page at Baker Creek,and there's a thread about that here at Tville as well.

Carolyn