Tante Ci

Mudman · May 22, 2011

I read an old post here that listed Tante Ci (Aunt Ci) as a Norwegian heirloom and I was wondering if anyone knew more about it/ had grown it/ or knows a source for seed. It is not listed in the TomatoBase and there are no Google results beyond TVillle.

**carolyn137** · May 22, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudman

I read an old post here that listed Tante Ci (Aunt Ci) as a Norwegian heirloom and I was wondering if anyone knew more about it/ had grown it/ or knows a source for seed. It is not listed in the TomatoBase and there are no Google results beyond TVillle.

http://www.nordgen.org/ngdoc/plants/...eed_Savers.pdf

I don't know of anyone who has grown it but you may wish to e-mail the person mentioned in the above link b'c that variety is one of just two that they have. As you noted Tania doesn't list it under Swedish tomatoes and no separate list for Norwegian ones.

Being of Scandinavian heritage myself I know that the cusines of those countries is not tomato based and most of the named varieties grown there in the past are small red ones, so I haven't pursued it myself.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=16864

I assume that the above is what you read here at Tville and the history of the Tante Ci was given there, but I have no idea where seeds can be found for it or some of the others mentioned in that Tville thread.

So perhaps if you contact someone at the first link, there is an e-mail linkm you might find more if Tante Ci is the only Norwegian tomato variety you're interested in.

Mudman · May 22, 2011

Thanks Carolyn! I will send an email to the above. And I am interested in all the varieties listed in the thread (Imur Prior Beta, Sterling Old Norway, and Norderås Busk) although this one was on the top of my list to find.

DanishGardener · May 23, 2011

I was the one who posted the info about Tante Ci, and as far as I know it is completely unknown outside of Norway.

Here is a link to the 2011 yearbook:

http://www.skogoglandskap.no/filearc...et2011_fin.pdf

As you can see the only one offering Tante Ci this year is SET10, and the only one offering Norderås Busk is AR07. (you can find the e-mails in the link). I suggest that you contact them directly and not the coordinator.

Let us know how it works out (if you need any help contacting them, or need to translate something just send me a PM).

/Soren

**carolyn137** · May 23, 2011

Soren, I don't get anything that comes up with that link.

I thought perhaps you were talking about the SSE 2011 yearbook but right now I think not after doing a quick search for Tante Ci in my paper 2011 SSE Yearbook unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

What color is Tante Ci? I thought it was red and checked there as well as pink and also checked to see if had been listed as Aunt Ci and not Tante Ci, with my quick search.

Mudman · May 23, 2011

The link worked for me although I can't understand any of it.

DanishGardener · May 23, 2011

Carolyn, the link I posted is the yearbook of the Norwegian Seeds Savers (it is still in the "baby" stage). It started up in 2006 I think, and with only 90 members it is still tiny compared to it's sister associations - Frøsamlerne in Denmark and SESAM in Sweden (which are tiny compared to the US SSE)

Here is the description I posted in the other thread:
From UØS06. Unni said: "My aunt, Aunt Ci, is Cecilie Jensen, who ran the herb garden at the cathedral ruins. She got the seeds 25 years ago from a woman named Ansof. I think she has released a book about herbs. The family of this Ansof had had the seeds for much longer. I checked my notes, and my aunt said that the seeds have been in Norway for about 100 years.
- Medium-large yellow tomatoes. Very good taste.

**carolyn137** · May 23, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanishGardener

Carolyn, the link I posted is the yearbook of the Norwegian Seeds Savers (it is still in the "baby" stage). It started up in 2006 I think, and with only 90 members it is still tiny compared to it's sister associations - Frøsamlerne in Denmark and SESAM in Sweden (which are tiny compared to the US SSE)

Here is the description I posted in the other thread:
From UØS06. Unni said: "My aunt, Aunt Ci, is Cecilie Jensen, who ran the herb garden at the cathedral ruins. She got the seeds 25 years ago from a woman named Ansof. I think she has released a book about herbs. The family of this Ansof had had the seeds for much longer. I checked my notes, and my aunt said that the seeds have been in Norway for about 100 years.
- Medium-large yellow tomatoes. Very good taste.

Soren, I linked to that thread in my post above in this thread and did read it there but somehow I missed that it was a med yellow tomato, which actually if it had been in Norway for 100 years would be a very unusual situation if it originated in Norway.

There's also the possibility that it could have been brought to Norway since yellow tomatoes were known elsewhere.

No way to know for sure.

Mudman · May 25, 2011

Norderas Busk is on its way! Still waiting for a reply on Tant Ci.

Mudman · June 1, 2011

I now have Norderas Busk and will get Tante Ci this summer. I guess I will work on getting the rest of the Norwegian tomatoes and grow them all next year. That will be nice to think about this winter when I am making lefse.

Mudman · April 3, 2012

I have now started seedlings of Tante Ci and Norderås Busk and am waiting for germanation on Sterling Old Norway. I know it is cliche to say something is rare, but when I went to the original source for Tante Ci she was not able to give me any seeds until havest time because she had none. That made me a bit nervous. What if she got blight? Maybe others have seed but I couldn't find any. I am glad to have them growing and plan on having a SASE offer in the fall to get them distributed.

afrance30 · April 7, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudman

I have now started seedlings of Tante Ci and Norderås Busk and am waiting for germanation on Sterling Old Norway. I know it is cliche to say something is rare, but when I went to the original source for Tante Ci she was not able to give me any seeds until havest time because she had none. That made me a bit nervous. What if she got blight? Maybe others have seed but I couldn't find any. I am glad to have them growing and plan on having a SASE offer in the fall to get them distributed.

Yes please try to offer seeds later so more people have a chance to grow these. It would be horrible if these varieties disappeared due to only a few growing them. We know how easy it is to have a bad year and a lot of us have crop failures at the same time.

Boutique Tomatoes · April 3, 2012

I'm excited to see what you end up with out of this project. Lots of the guys I hunt with in the UP are of Norwegian and Finnish descent.

Mudman · April 18, 2012

Just did some searching on Google Norway and found this on a site-

Appeared in 2007
In 2007, contributed one of the members with the seeds of a nameless yellow tomato that probably had been grown in Norway for about 100 years. The seeds came from her aunt Cecilia Jensen, who also was the one who ran the famous herb garden at the Cathedral ruins for many years. And because the denomination was unknown was the name 'Aunt Cis'. Tomato yellow Aunt Cisena handful of self-grown tomatoes of the over 100 year old variety which has been named Aunt Cis. Photo: Stephen Barstow

After planting the club's coordinator Stephen Barstow published the story about 'Aunt Cis' tomato in Norwegian Hagetidend in 2011 (see Appendix below) has Aunt Cecilie even provided details of the tomato variety, which she had once given Ansof Wyller Christophersen from Songe in Aust -College, who was one of the foremost experts on herbs at the end of the 1900s.

Seeds came to Norway with sailors
- I got the seed of Ansof Christophersen summer of 1975, the first time I was with her spices courses. At that time I understood it so that the seed had been in Norway for about 80 years, says Cecilie Jensen. Ansof had even received the seed by Helga Myklebostad, (who incidentally attended the same course) and who had received seeds from nests family she worked for in Arendal.

And a picture- http://www.skogoglandskap.no/fagarti.../bilde/ingress

Eirik · March 11, 2013

Bump!

Now in 2013 we in the norwegian seed savers have even more information about "Tante Ci"
The aunt, likes to refer to this tomato as "Ansofs gule" (Ansofs yellow), because she got it from The well known norwegian botanist Ansof Wyller Christophersen.

The tomato has been described as very similar to the variety "Golden Queen" and some of us here in Norway are growing both to see if they are the same variety.

May 22, 2011	#1
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	Tante Ci I read an old post here that listed Tante Ci (Aunt Ci) as a Norwegian heirloom and I was wondering if anyone knew more about it/ had grown it/ or knows a source for seed. It is not listed in the TomatoBase and there are no Google results beyond TVillle. __________________ Mike

May 22, 2011	#3
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	Thanks Carolyn! I will send an email to the above. And I am interested in all the varieties listed in the thread (Imur Prior Beta, Sterling Old Norway, and Norderås Busk) although this one was on the top of my list to find. __________________ Mike

May 23, 2011	#5
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Soren, I don't get anything that comes up with that link. I thought perhaps you were talking about the SSE 2011 yearbook but right now I think not after doing a quick search for Tante Ci in my paper 2011 SSE Yearbook unless I'm looking in the wrong place. What color is Tante Ci? I thought it was red and checked there as well as pink and also checked to see if had been listed as Aunt Ci and not Tante Ci, with my quick search. __________________ Carolyn

May 23, 2011	#6
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	The link worked for me although I can't understand any of it. __________________ Mike

May 23, 2011	#7
DanishGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Denmark Posts: 328	Carolyn, the link I posted is the yearbook of the Norwegian Seeds Savers (it is still in the "baby" stage). It started up in 2006 I think, and with only 90 members it is still tiny compared to it's sister associations - Frøsamlerne in Denmark and SESAM in Sweden (which are tiny compared to the US SSE) Here is the description I posted in the other thread: From UØS06. Unni said: "My aunt, Aunt Ci, is Cecilie Jensen, who ran the herb garden at the cathedral ruins. She got the seeds 25 years ago from a woman named Ansof. I think she has released a book about herbs. The family of this Ansof had had the seeds for much longer. I checked my notes, and my aunt said that the seeds have been in Norway for about 100 years. - Medium-large yellow tomatoes. Very good taste. Last edited by DanishGardener; May 23, 2011 at 04:34 PM.

May 25, 2011	#9
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	Norderas Busk is on its way! Still waiting for a reply on Tant Ci. __________________ Mike

June 1, 2011	#10
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	I now have Norderas Busk and will get Tante Ci this summer. I guess I will work on getting the rest of the Norwegian tomatoes and grow them all next year. That will be nice to think about this winter when I am making lefse. __________________ Mike

April 3, 2012	#11
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	I have now started seedlings of Tante Ci and Norderås Busk and am waiting for germanation on Sterling Old Norway. I know it is cliche to say something is rare, but when I went to the original source for Tante Ci she was not able to give me any seeds until havest time because she had none. That made me a bit nervous. What if she got blight? Maybe others have seed but I couldn't find any. I am glad to have them growing and plan on having a SASE offer in the fall to get them distributed. __________________ Mike Last edited by Mudman; April 3, 2012 at 02:02 PM.

April 3, 2012	#13
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	I'm excited to see what you end up with out of this project. Lots of the guys I hunt with in the UP are of Norwegian and Finnish descent.

April 18, 2012	#14
Mudman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: NW Wisconsin Posts: 910	Just did some searching on Google Norway and found this on a site- Appeared in 2007 In 2007, contributed one of the members with the seeds of a nameless yellow tomato that probably had been grown in Norway for about 100 years. The seeds came from her aunt Cecilia Jensen, who also was the one who ran the famous herb garden at the Cathedral ruins for many years. And because the denomination was unknown was the name 'Aunt Cis'. Tomato yellow Aunt Cisena handful of self-grown tomatoes of the over 100 year old variety which has been named Aunt Cis. Photo: Stephen Barstow After planting the club's coordinator Stephen Barstow published the story about 'Aunt Cis' tomato in Norwegian Hagetidend in 2011 (see Appendix below) has Aunt Cecilie even provided details of the tomato variety, which she had once given Ansof Wyller Christophersen from Songe in Aust -College, who was one of the foremost experts on herbs at the end of the 1900s. Seeds came to Norway with sailors - I got the seed of Ansof Christophersen summer of 1975, the first time I was with her spices courses. At that time I understood it so that the seed had been in Norway for about 80 years, says Cecilie Jensen. Ansof had even received the seed by Helga Myklebostad, (who incidentally attended the same course) and who had received seeds from nests family she worked for in Arendal. And a picture- http://www.skogoglandskap.no/fagarti.../bilde/ingress __________________ Mike

March 11, 2013	#15
Eirik Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Norway Posts: 51	Bump! Now in 2013 we in the norwegian seed savers have even more information about "Tante Ci" The aunt, likes to refer to this tomato as "Ansofs gule" (Ansofs yellow), because she got it from The well known norwegian botanist Ansof Wyller Christophersen. The tomato has been described as very similar to the variety "Golden Queen" and some of us here in Norway are growing both to see if they are the same variety.