Riesentraube

[berkeleyluddite]

Finally broke down and asked my nursery about a tomato plant I bought from them years ago that blew me away... couldn't for the life of me figured out the name except it was a red cherry tomatoes with German origin. The buyer was nice enough to tell me it might be called the Riesentraube.

I remembered it to have incredible savory flavor. Almost no sweetness but in a good way. Has anyone else had good luck with this tomato??

I did a quick search and surprised me that no one post anything about this one?!?!

[luigiwu]

I've noticed the search function has been broken for the last week or so...
People like that one - lots of good things have been said about it.

[AlittleSalt]

I have planted 3 Riesentraube in gardens this spring, and 4 Yellow Riesentraube plants because of how many positive things I read about them over the past year. I like tomatoes with almost no sweet taste. I like interesting shapes too.

If Riesentraube tastes as good as I've read about - it will be a parent when I learn about crossing.

[JamesL]

Riesentraube is a great tomato. Grew it the last 2 years. Large tomato taste in a cherry size.
Prolific too.

[carolyn137]

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Riesentraube

I know it very well and it is not a german heirloom, it's just that what we know it as is the German name for it.

It was Curtis Choplin from FL who got it from the German Seed bank at Gatersleben and first listed it in an SSE yearbook which is where many of us got it back in the early 90's.

But it was widely grown in several countries near Germany, but with different names. I can't remember in which country where it went by the name of Goat's T*t, referring to the small nipple at the blossom end.

it's called a multiflora type since it forms a blossom stalk that has upwards of several hundred blossoms, but usually only about 50-80 set fruits.

And yes, some Amish in Philidelphia grew it, under which name I don't know and used it to make wine. Someone did that and sent me a bottle and it was great and tasted like a pale sherry and somewhere I still have the recipe that was used which Craig Lehoullier ( nctomatoman) and I published in an International newsletter that we were doing in the early to mid 90's.

What I like about it is that it has what I call a real tomato taste, not so sweet, a taste that is not usually found in most small reds.

Carolyn

[Irv Wiseguy]

Carolyn,

You are such a great resource for tomato information. This is the first time I've heard of tomato wine. I am amazed!

Irv

[tnkrer]

wanted to grow it this year, but none of the seeds germinated. So I am going to look for a plant in the nursery in a few weeks

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Irv Wiseguy

Carolyn,

You are such a great resource for tomato information. This is the first time I've heard of tomato wine. I am amazed!

Irv

A couple of comments.

Irv, would you be surprised at dandeline wine? Clare and Felix Infausto lived near I was raised on the farm. I always remember Clare for two reasons, first was coming to our place and digging out the dandelions in our lawns and making dandeline wine, and second b'c she was a superb cook and baker, and oh I can still taste her cannoli. I remember Felix, he was a lawyer and when he was young was helping out in a print shop and lost both hands in one of the machines. But he drove a car, had these leather sleeves on the steering wheel that he slipped the rest of his arms into and also for worshiping Clare.

I did NOT like the dandeline wine.

Yellow Riesentraube. That came about when just ONE fruit on a plant with all red ones turned out to be yellow. Such mutations are called somatic mutations and they are permanent and heritable, the person saved seeds, I can't remember if he or someone else first SSE listed it, so just took a look at Tania's website:

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Yellow_Riesentraube

And yes, it was first SSE listed.

I never grew the Yellow one so don't know if the taste is the same as the original red.

Carolyn

[AlittleSalt]

Carolyn,

I have both Riesentraube and Yellow Riesentraube planted side-by-side in my garden. I'll let you know if they taste the same or not.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I did NOT like the dandeline wine.

I've never had it. What did it taste like? Can you describe it?

[Worth1]

I am probably one of the biggest fans of Riesentraube on this site.

Worth

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Carolyn,

I have both Riesentraube and Yellow Riesentraube planted side-by-side in my garden. I'll let you know if they taste the same or not.

You certainly will do so and since you are younger than I am it's you who will do the remembering.

I can remember two somatic mutations that I saw but at the time I didn't really know that's what they were called.

One was with the variety Dix Doight de Naples ( 10 fingers of Naples) where one branch still had red fruits but they were a completely different shape.

The other one was with a variety called Green Gage, the normal fruit color is yellow but one branch had red fruits.

Regular mutations are the result of a mutation in the DNA of the seed DNA while somatic ( soma means body, from the Greek) mutations occur in the DNA of a plant cell which is why you can have just one fruit that's a different color as well as a whole branch that be a different color OR shape than the original for it depends where on the plant that mutation occurs.

Many of us here know of the variety called Casino Chips, which was the result of a somatic mutation with the variety Casino where one branch had cherry tomatoes while the parent variety is a very large fruited variety.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Casino

And note the link to Casino Chips at the above. My friend Rob who raises my seedlings for me was here yesterday to pick up seeds and Casino Chips was one of several cherry varieties I gave to him along with several much larger new ones that will go in my now delayed 2015 seed offer which I hope to get up sometime in late June, fingers crossed.

Carolyn

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I've never had it. What did it taste like? Can you describe it?

I am not Carolyn, but as to taste - it depends. On who made it, the recipe and if it was aged.
One version I had tasted kinda like brandy, not awful. Had another version that tasted like bad wine with grass mixed in......

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

You certainly will do so and since you are younger than I am it's you who will do the remembering.

I can remember two somatic mutations that I saw but at the time I didn't really know that's what they were called.

One was with the variety Dix Doight de Naples ( 10 fingers of Naples) where one branch still had red fruits but they were a completely different shape.

The other one was with a variety called Green Gage, the normal fruit color is yellow but one branch had red fruits.

Regular mutations are the result of a mutation in the DNA of the seed DNA while somatic ( soma means body, from the Greek) mutations occur in the DNA of a plant cell which is why you can have just one fruit that's a different color as well as a whole branch that be a different color OR shape than the original for it depends where on the plant that mutation occurs.

Many of us here know of the variety called Casino Chips, which was the result of a somatic mutation with the variety Casino where one branch had cherry tomatoes while the parent variety is a very large fruited variety.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Casino

And note the link to Casino Chips at the above. My friend Rob who raises my seedlings for me was here yesterday to pick up seeds and Casino Chips was one of several cherry varieties I gave to him along with several much larger new ones that will go in my now delayed 2015 seed offer which I hope to get up sometime in late June, fingers crossed.

Carolyn

Carolyn, if you are counting on me remembering. um...err...what were we talking about?