Casino (paste)

[dokutaaguriin]

I would first like to thank Joe (casino) for sharing his seeds for this variety and Casino Chips. I cannot wait for Casino to ripen up so that I can taste it as it is a beautiful tomato (see pic).
I do have a questions about Pat Cici's hometown- Casino. I did a little googling and came across this info from an Italian genealogy website:

Casino became "Comune" in 1811, it was part of the province of Cosenza. In 1916 it was assigned to the province of Catanzaro. In 1950 its name was changed to Castelsilano. Currently Castelsilano is in the province of Crotone (this Province was established in 1992).
Cassino is a completely different town in the province of Frosinone.


I was wondering if Pat's hometown has been renamed to Castelsilano? Thanks.

Jeff

[ContainerTed]

Today, I harvested a bunch of these huge paste types, did some seed saving, and processed the toms to the pot on the stove. Sorry I didn't get pictures of these first ones, but I was in a rush to get the pot started.

More are blushing in the garden and I'll post some pictures here. The taste is a typically perfect roma type. I'll also add some comments about how it cooks, as I am boiling down some "juice" for canning.

Anyhow, this plant really loads up with lots of large, heavy fruit. This one is a big time producer.

Thanks to Joe for this one. I've also added to the Casino Chips thread I started.

[fortyonenorth]

I'm growing Casino and Casino Chips as well this year (thanks Joe!) and when I first received them, I did a bit of research as well. I assumed this was the tomato's namesake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassino It was the site of the WWII Battle of Monte Cassino.

According to Wikipedia, "Comune" is an administrative district similar to "township." Perhaps this is a point of confusion on the genealogy website.

Hopefully Joe will weigh-in.

[casino]

Hello everyone, I'm back, This has been a very busy year and I have not been on tomatoville in a few months. I am glad to hear all the positive comments on Casino paste and casino chips. I knew you would like them. On Pat Cici's home town Casino I need to talk to Pat and make sure I have all my facts correct. I wll do more research.

This year I have grown 90 heirloom tomatoes. It was a lot but (this year) I had the time and the space to do it. I just finished evaluating the tomatoes and picked 40 varieties as my favorites. I have taken pictures of all the varieties, busy taste testing and saving seeds. Its amazing how many varieties there are and how different they all taste. When I figure out how to post pictures all in one place I will let my friends know.

[fortyonenorth]

I was just wondering about you the other day, Joe. It's great to see you back. Thanks very much for the fine tomatoes!

[Farmette]

Casino Chips was a great producer in my garden and very tasty. Thanks Casino, for making those available!

[husker nana]

Casino, glad to see your back on and glad that the reason you've been absent is that you were busy. Family and friends all enjoyed eating casino chips and amazed how how big the plants were. Excellent producer. Thank you for sharing.

[kygreg]

Ditto what Farmette said; thanks Casino

[Heritage]

Joe, glad to hear you've been keeping busy! Thanks again for Casino Paste and Casino Chips. I think they both have some unique qualities and are a nice addition to the heirloom/OP world.

[barefootgardener]

Hi Joe! You have been busy! Glad you had a successful season!

Just wanted to say my Casino Chips Cherry was an excellent producer of some fine little tomatoes! Thank you for the opportunity to try them!

Ginny

[casino]

My 2011 growing season did have its up's and down's. I did eventually end up with success but it was a long road. This year was my one opportunity to grow out 156 different varieties of tomatoes. I am a supervisor of a community garden in Southfield Michigan and I had the time (this year) and the space to take on a project of this size.

I had a few road blocks. When it came time to start my seeds indoors my seed starting mix was outside frozen and under 2 feet of snow. No problem, I went to COSTCO and purchased Miracle grow with moisture control and I call it the soil of death for starting seeds. 1/3 of all my seeds never sprouted, they rotted in the community pot. Then 1/3 of my seeds 1-2 or 3 seeds germinated and some died. and then 1/3 of my seeds loved the wet feet and grew like crazy. I was depressed. watching all these fabulous seeds and exchanges from private collections die right before my eyes. This never happened to me before.

The seeds that grew I moved them into the greenhouse that I built last year and pluged in an electric heater. WELL... The heater melted the fuse box into the ON position and I almost burned my house down. Before I went to bed I checked the fuse box and it was glowing red. That gave me a good scare. THEN after the 40 days and 40 nights of rain I planted my garden. In JUly it was looking like magazine material. But to keep it pristene I sprayed it with daconil and overnight I almost killed everything. Like I sprayed it with round-up. The temps jumped to 90-95 and 100 degrees and it took a while but the plants did recover and I have tomatoes. But for a while there I thought I was wiped out.

It breaks my heart that I did not grow all the varieties intended but I did get some beauties from the seed exchange. What a thrill having people come into my garden and taste testing and see their reactions. The best one is this. There is a 22 year old man that is a vegeterian and HATES tomatoes. I told him to try an heirloom tomato. he said no... Try this and if you dont like it spit it out. Well he tried it and discovered the TASTE of heirloom tomatoes. He turned into a tomato junkie and cant get enough of the cherries. Thats a real complement to the taste of heirloom tomatoes.