Tomato seeds from India?

[AZGardener]

Hello
I have a friend going to South India in the Fall and I told her that she has to keep her eyes peeled for tomato seeds for me! I'm starting to do a lot of research but does anyone happen to know anything about tomato seeds in India? I looked at Tomato Base and there is about 8 or tomatoes listed. I might just tell her to save me seeds from all the tomatoes she comes in contact with, if she's able.

I also hear that India has similar growing conditions to Phoenix so who knows....?

Thanks!!!

Kelly

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by AZGardener

Hello
I have a friend going to South India in the Fall and I told her that she has to keep her eyes peeled for tomato seeds for me! I'm starting to do a lot of research but does anyone happen to know anything about tomato seeds in India? I looked at Tomato Base and there is about 8 or tomatoes listed. I might just tell her to save me seeds from all the tomatoes she comes in contact with, if she's able.

I also hear that India has similar growing conditions to Phoenix so who knows....?

Thanks!!!

Kelly

Kelly, I looked at Tania's list of ones from India and the only one I recognized and have grown is Pusa Ruby, and that was one of the packs from India that were sent to me, and to be honest, while I SSE listed all of them, I did not like the tastes at all. The packs you buy in stores there are written in English, so no problem there at all.

India does not have a tomato based cuisine and never has although they use some at home from time to time. The kind of taste that they prefer is a very aggressive, kind of tart taste, which is not what I like.

As to India having the same climate as Phoenix, well, I think not. Think monsoons, think unrelenting rain forweeks at a time, floods and more in many areas.

I think this link sums it up very well,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_India

Most of the tomato production in India is highly commercial and directed towards tomato powders and pastes. For many years I would get e-mails at home offering me bulk amounts of powders especially.

Finally, from what I know, very few in India are home gardeners, lack of space, lack of money in those areas where the inhabitants are just trying to get by.

I have no idea if there are many road side stands or markets in the large cities where the general public can buy fruits, perhaps someone here at Tville can speak to that.

Summary? From what I know the climate in India can vary tremendously as indicated in the above link, but I wouldn't call it similar to Phoenix, AZ as a general statement,

Carolyn

[AZGardener]

Good Morning Carolyn,
My friends family is actually from India and they say the late Summer here in Phx is very similar to that of the monsoon season there in India. We actually get daily rain storms that can be really crazy, since the moisture comes right up the Baja from Mexico. We have high temps with crazy humidity from mid June-Aug/Sept whenever it decides to stop. With that said, she said her family who visited reminded them of home. It is very interesting of what you said in regards to the tomato taste and the lack of gardening there. I know they have lots of those outdoor/road stand type of markets so perhaps that is the best place to check...

I did get some neat seeds from Iraq that actually do very well here in the desert: Abu Rawan and another name (slipping my mind). I beg friends/family who travel to come home with seeds....

[carolyn137]

Kelly, most of what I know about Indian cusine came from two places.

My Ph. D advisor in Rochester NY was married to an Indian woman, her name was Roshan, and I used to babysit their two kids and also had many meals with them and many times it was her cooking Indian foods.

Then when I was in Denver there were seveal Indian restaurants and if you went there at the right time the owner would be going from table to table asking if everything was OK, and would answer any questions.

Then when I moved back East there were also many Indian restaurants in my area as well. And all had tandori ovens and all served various curries, from mild to hot, the excellent fresh cuke and yogurt salads were outstanding and so much more.

Where I am now, lots of Chinese and Mexican and italian restaurants, but not one Indian one, well, perhaps one in Saratoga, but that's a bit of a drive, not for me, since I'm no longer allowed to drive, but for someone to use my car to go get take out.

Carolyn

[ScottinAtlanta]

I have brought home seeds from several Asian countries, and never found a particularly good variety. As C said, there is not a tomato based cuisine, and gardeners do not have a culture of developing tomato varieties. As a result, most of the tomatoes are fairly bland commercial varieties. I am trialing Tuptim Racha this year in Atlanta - it is a Thai red Cherry, so will see.

[travis]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

I have brought home seeds from several Asian countries, and never found a particularly good variety. As C said, there is not a tomato based cuisine, and gardeners do not have a culture of developing tomato varieties. As a result, most of the tomatoes are fairly bland commercial varieties. I am trialing Tuptim Racha this year in Atlanta - it is a Thai red Cherry, so will see.

I beg to differ with these comments to some extent.

India enjoys a large range of climatic conditions, ethnic populations, cultural diversity, and culinary preferences. Tomatoes are a major crop and culinary ingredient in parts of India.

I have a friend from India who uses all of the extra tomatoes I give him. In fact, he uses fresh tomatoes as a sauce component in his dishes nearly every day, and he cooks almost exclusively the cuisine of his native village, and his mother's recipes. His sister in Indianapolis and his brother in Seattle do the same, and Vishu often takes my tomatoes to his sister in Indy.

Also, a few years ago, I traded a fellow working at Cornell seeds for several of my working lines for seeds he had brought from India. This fellow is a tomato breeder, and some of the seeds he sent me were for traditional Indian varieties, along with some hybrid seed and some breeding line seeds used to produce hybrid seed.

Most of the Indian varietal seeds he sent produced small to medium size, high crimson, (he called them "capsicum colored") fruit. They tend to be on the tart or sour side, as tomatoes generally are used for sauces in India rather than for fresh eating. I would not call them bland!

However, the seeds this Indian tomato breeder asked me for were the "purple" types like Indian Stripe, etc., so I wonder what his intent is for developing possibly sweeter and larger tomatoes than those common to India's agriculture.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by travis

I beg to differ with these comments to some extent.

India enjoys a large range of climatic conditions, ethnic populations, cultural diversity, and culinary preferences. Tomatoes are a major crop and culinary ingredient in parts of India.

I have a friend from India who uses all of the extra tomatoes I give him. In fact, he uses fresh tomatoes as a sauce component in his dishes nearly every day, and he cooks almost exclusively the cuisine of his native village, and his mother's recipes. His sister in Indianapolis and his brother in Seattle do the same, and Vishu often takes my tomatoes to his sister in Indy.

Also, a few years ago, I traded a fellow working at Cornell seeds for several of my working lines for seeds he had brought from India. This fellow is a tomato breeder, and some of the seeds he sent me were for traditional Indian varieties, along with some hybrid seed and some breeding line seeds used to produce hybrid seed.

Most of the Indian varietal seeds he sent produced small to medium size, high crimson, (he called them "capsicum colored") fruit. They tend to be on the tart or sour side, as tomatoes generally are used for sauces in India rather than for fresh eating. I would not call them bland!

However, the seeds this Indian tomato breeder asked me for were the "purple" types like Indian Stripe, etc., so I wonder what his intent is for developing possibly sweeter and larger tomatoes than those common to India's agriculture.

Travis, I agree with you on the not bland comment and had written above more on the aggressive/tart side, for the ones I have grown.

Just wondering who it might be at Cornell who you dealt with who is a tomato breeder. If I were to go to the various depts at Cornell would I find him as a faculty member? Just curious since Cornell is my alma mater ( hmmm, mater or mater?) and there's the Ithaca based campus as well as the Cornell operated one in Geneva, NY where they do lots of growouts fort his and that,

Carolyn

[Yentlsil]

I just looooove Indian food, the reason why I have Pepper plants too...
And I have Many cooking books of Indian cuisine... Hate to say it but they do use tomatoes, much less then french or italian and spanish recepies, but in Some curry's they do use them...



Silke

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Yentlsil

I just looooove Indian food, the reason why I have Pepper plants too...
And I have Many cooking books of Indian cuisine... Hate to say it but they do use tomatoes, much less then french or italian and spanish recepies, but in Some curry's they do use them...



Silke

And yes, I mentioned above in post #2 that they sometimes do use tomatoes in some dishes at home.

Can't think of country anywhere where tomatoes are NOT used, either a lot, or sparingly.

Carolyn

[Yentlsil]

If you lived in Belgium carolyn, I would invite you for a currie dish

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Yentlsil

If you lived in Belgium carolyn, I would invite you for a currie dish

If I were to go again to Belgium I would accept your kind invitation. But I have been in Belgium and existed on great chocolates and pastries.

Yes, I also found great Indian food in the Netherlands, especially in Amsterdam.

There's a great tradition in some of those countries of trade to the Indian continent centuries ago to bring back spices of all kinds that led to the popularity of Indian food in many places in Europe.

Another place where Indian food has become VERY popular is in England where I much preferred it to the fish and chip places and especially when there was one price, eat all you want buffets in the Indian restaurants..Great for my first trip to Europe for almost three months and was doing it cheaply, carrying along with me Frommers How to see Europe on $5 A Day.

Carolyn, who treasures the memories of all the places she travelled to over the years, to Europe, Scandinavia, Denmark, Greece and the islands, Israel, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. When she retired she was free to travel all she wanted to but then fell, severed all four quad muscles in her right leg in Dec of 2004 so has had to use a walker since then, but still travels in a way b'c archaeology has always been a passion for her, thus some of the destinations, and she gets FOUR archaeology magazines and a new one came today.

Carolyn

[Fred Hempel]

The kind of taste that they prefer is a very aggressive, kind of tart taste

I like!

[Worth1]

One of the things they do we dont when others try to duplicate the food is they toast many of their spices in a pan.

I have some Indian friends that I have known for going on 15 years now.
People in the store see us talking and going on about stuff and they look at us funny.
Like what is this guy doing talking to these people?

I just dont get it.
I love the beautiful colors and comfortable clothes they wear too.
Calico and calico prints come from India.

I wish I could go there some time.

Come to think of it I'm wearing sort of a calico print shirt now with bamboo leaves and hibiscus flowers printed on it.
Worth

[Yentlsil]

Yep, they frie their spices, and the spices taste different dependand on the moment you put them in your pan, sometimes they gain tartness if fried longer, sometimes in another dish, they put them in later... So aromatic! Kardemom, curryleaves, cumin, koriander, ground koriander, star anis, etc... Yummieeeee

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Yentlsil

Yep, they frie their spices, and the spices taste different dependand on the moment you put them in your pan, sometimes they gain tartness if fried longer, sometimes in another dish, they put them in later... So aromatic! Kardemom, curryleaves, cumin, koriander, ground koriander, star anis, etc... Yummieeeee

My neighbor lady friend said she could always tell when I was cooking.

I told her I hope it smells good and she said it did.

I bet I drive the folks around here crazy.

Have you seen the movie, The Hundred Foot Journey, I just love the show.

Worth