Italian heirloom tomato seed collection # 2

Our newest Italian Tomato Collection is made up of some really rare and tasty tomatoes. Our last collection was focused on smaller fruit, but here we are opening it up to a bunch of larger lesser known tomatoes from Italy. You will get about 5 seeds of each of the eight varietals in this collection. Enjoy CIAO!

ITAILAN TOMATO COLLECTION # 2

1. Enrica Cimelo Toscana Tomato

Enrica Cimelo Toscana tomato hails from Tuscany, which is north of Rome and South of Bologna and rest on the shores of Tyrrhenian Sea facing Corsica. Home to Florence and Pisa and well known for Chianti’s olive groves and vineyards. But it should be know for this tomato. Well north of the volcanic soils of Pompei, the region boast deeper soils and more diverse agricultural offerings. The fruits of this tomato can be between 6-8 oz. It is hard to look these ruffled beauties and not think of the wave of the red tiles that dominate the region. I had these tomatoes everywhere last year. They are so pretty I just wanted to be surrounded by them, so I put them all over the place. I lined every window sill in our kitchen, had them on shelves in our packing house, and had some on the dash of my truck. In the kitchen the grace of the tomato is not to be understated. I made sauce from a bunch of them and sun dried even more to keep the allure of this tomato with me all winter long. 

2. Costoluto Pesarese

Pomodoro Costoluto Pesarese- The ribbed tomato of Pesaro. From the region of Marche, if you are headed north on the coastal road out of Ancona, Pesaro will be the next bump you come to on the lightly jetting out into the Adriatic Sea. This tomato preforms so well in the kitchen. I have made sauce from them, but it really shine as a sliced tomato.  Those deep ribs give it a great look on sandwich or salad or cut into wedges along the ribs for a fresh pasta. The flavor is true red tomato taste with a deepness and salty finish. 

3.Pisanello da Bruschetta

Pisanello da Bruschetta like the Renaissance painter Pisanello is also a work of art from Pisa. (That place with the tower) Returning to Tuscany for another tomato, This one hails from Pisa. Flanked by Florence to the east and the Ligurian Sea due west. Pisa is right where the Italian peninsula starts its arch towards Genoa in Liguria and is name asked famous tomato. This is yet another flattened deeply-ribbed fruit with the standard red tomato color. In the kitchen, well its got bruschetta in its name so I used this tomato for some and went to a summer party. After a long day in a hot and sweaty tomato field, sometimes you just want to have a cold beer and talk about something else. Well that did not happen, everyone wanted to know more about this tomato.

Corleone

4. Pomodoro Corleone originates in Corleone in the Western part of the island of Sicily south of Palermo. Every time I watch the Godfather and Don Vito Corleone drops dead in his tomato patch I think about this tomato. (Also check out our Sicilian Godfather Tomato, It is a monster.) The tomato is of medium size, with less pronounced ribs that a Costoluto, but they are still there. In the kitchen I love to wash and de-stem these and put the right into freezer bags. In the winter I thaw them. I will also just pop some straight away into the freezer for a day or two. Pull them out and grate over toast. 

Pomodoro Belmonte

5. Pomodoro Belmonte is a tomato from the town of Belmonte in the Calabria region in southern Italy on a hill over looking coast. There are a few tomatoes that go by the name Belmonte, but this one is my favorite of all the ones I have tried.  It is a paste tomato the is deeply-lobed tear shaped with a nipple on the blossom end of the fruit. In the kitchen, let me just say that this tomato will be part of our sauce next year, that’s how much we love it. I also dry a ton of these.

Cour di Albenga

6. Pomodoro Cour di Albenga or Cuore di bue means the ox heart tomato from Albenga. This wonderful tomato hails from the Liguria coast and if you have ever grown our tomato Liguria you would see what traits people in this region are saving.

Costoluto Rotunda di Fiorentino 

7. Pomodoro Costoluto Rotunda di Fiorentino is a bit of an odd one. Translation would be tomato ribbed roundabout of Florentine. Ribbed and roundabout are odd to use together, but if you look at this tomato it is ribbed in a roundabout way. I get it. A lot can be lost in translation, right? At the same time I have 5 or 6 tomato head friends all growing the same Italian heirloom tomato and all of them look different. There is tons of variation in many of the seed that comes from Italy. An 80 year old friend from Naples told his family only cared about the flavor of the tomato not how it looked, and that made so much sense and helped me so much on my tomato journey.

Rosso Sicilian

8. Pomodoro Rosso Sicilian - the red tomato from Sicily. Our tend to be a bit more rosa than rosso but wow this is a great tomato. No one knows much about this tomato. Like lots of great stuff it came to the states in the 80’s, but no one knows much past that. But sometimes you don’t need a story, you need a great tomato, well here you go. Heavy pleats in this ribbed beauty, with that classic mushroom basket shape. Like I said our fruit tends to be more pink than red, but the flavor of this tomato is out of this world. Maybe this was the tomato that Don Vito feel over dead in, I would not be that upset with that as a final chapter. Sliced, quartered, sauced, or just eat it standing in your tomato patch waiting to meet your maker.