Russo Sicilian Togetta

Farmette · March 21, 2013

I saw a reference to this tomato in another thread today on paste tomatoes that described it as a meaty tomato with few seeds. I am wondering what other members impressions of it are as when I grew it last year...when I dipped them in boiling water and removed the skins, what was left was a bag of little meat and a lot of seeds. It added good flavor, though, to sauces, etc. But, I am wondering if maybe I have the wrong RS tomato. It looked like a smaller version of Costoluto Genovese. Thanks!

Boutique Tomatoes · March 21, 2013

I've grown it from two sources and that's what I get as well. It does have nice flavor but it's too much work for what I get production wise for me compared to the larger sausage type pastes.

Dutch · March 21, 2013

Chris, I will be donating LaRoma Hybrid tomato plants to your church sale this spring. The peppers will be Bell Boy.
Dutch

Farmette · March 21, 2013

Marktutt: Thanks for the confirmation about RS. I, too, have developed a preference for the larger sausage pastes as well as the hearts!

Doug: Thanks so much for the plants last yr, and the offer for this yr, which I will gladly take you up on. Just let me know when they are ready. I will be in TX Apr. 16-26, but will be around after that. We are growing Champs II this yr, as well as a few other hybrids and more heirlooms. Last yr, we put your Champs plants out for the sale and they all sold and we planted some in the church garden, which we will do again, and they were great producers. We had a record amount of donations to the food pantry. So, thanks again!
Chris

lakelady · March 25, 2013

Farmette, I found them a bit small, very seedy and a bit juicy. Flavor was excellent though. However, for sauce and drying, I'm sowing other big paste types this year to grow.

z_willus_d · March 25, 2013

I have the strain that brokenbar was touting and sharing a while back. She certainly lauded it as an excellent sauce builder (as I recall). I will say out of a field of 10+ sauce types, for whatever reason it was one of around 5 that I decided to grow again this year. Honestly, though, now I don't recall the seed to meat ratios or flavor for that matter. I just know that it made the cut by some goodness. I'll be keeping far better records this year, so we'll see how she does. BTW, last year I had a computer crash and lost a load of data on my seeds and other related notes.

Naysen

barefootgardener · March 25, 2013

My source was also BrokenBar, My RST tomatoes were very similar to the Costoluto Genovese I grow, but the fruits were smaller. Seedy, but the flavor was good from the few that matured..I had a terrible garden year in 2012. Most of my outdoor tomatoes did poorly.. So I did not get enough fruit from RST, to make into sauce, to compare with others.

Farmette · March 25, 2013

I plan on growing it again, in spite of all the seeds, because I did like the taste and will continue to use it in sauces, etc. Thanks for all the replies.

dice · March 30, 2013

If I recall correctly, Costoluto Genovese was the one she touted
for making the best sauce. All of those varieties in her seed offer
she probably used in her wine-soaked dried tomato business.
Russo Sicilian Togetta she liked for its toughness as a plant, while
still having good flavor. In extremes of weather, it was the one
cultivar she had that was most likely to pull through.

Farmette · March 30, 2013

Yes, I use CG for sauce and RS for sauce and dried, but it had a lot of seeds for dried too. My comments were because someone had a different experience than mine...it is in another thread somewhere. Its a good tomato.

Father'sDaughter · March 31, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farmette

Yes, I use CG for sauce and RS for sauce and dried, but it had a lot of seeds for dried too. My comments were because someone had a different experience than mine...it is in another thread somewhere. Its a good tomato.

You're probably referring to mine, and I now realize I was mistaken. I did have a number varieties that were very shy on seeds, but you're right--RST wasn't one of them. Despite the seeds, though, I did find them to be extremely dense and dry. When I can tomatoes, I cut out the core then give them a squeeze to get rid of some seeds and gel before they go into the pot. When I did this with the RSTs, I was still left with a dense and meaty ball of tomato flesh--they didn't squish down like some others. That, and the fact that the plants produced a huge amount of fruit compared to all other varieties last year was what I loved about them. Sorry for the confusion.

Farmette · March 31, 2013

No problem...I too found them to be one of the most prolific tomatoes I grew. Maybe my practice of dipping RS into boiling water c aused the meat to shrink somewhat...I am comparing it to others such as Big Beef which really kept its shape. But, anyway glad to know we are talking about the same tomato. Thanks for you reply.

ScottinAtlanta · May 29, 2014

Russo Sicilian is an irritating tomato. It grows big, sure, but its main stem is ropy and unable to hold up the weight of the fleshy leaves, so you have to support it every 5 inches along the way up. It loves to branch and branch. The branches are heavy and break off easily. The leaves are fleshy and the aphids like them.

This is the first year I am growing Russo, on the strength of brokenbar's dried tomato recipe, and I see many blooms, but it is a really irritating plant.

JLJ_ · May 31, 2014

I 've grown, and like very much, the Russo Sicilia Togeta (also originally from BrokenBar). Mine have been on the small side -- both the tomatoes and the plants -- not monsters at all, but *very* prolific and continuing to bear even in the early fall weather -- which can be pretty cold here. Shape of mine was not much like Costoluto Genovese. Russo's hide had sharper 'points' on the extrusions, while Costoluto's were more rounded.

I would not try to remove the skins. While many roundish tomatoes hold their shape well when dipped in boiling water, then peeled, I can't imagine that a tomato shaped like Russo, with much of the meat in the pointed extrusions, anything but a little shapeless glob would remain after boiling water and skin removal.

If I wanted to prepare Russo's for a sauce I'd probably cut them up, cook them a little, cool them a little, and put the whole warm pan, liquid and all, through a colander or food mill to take out the skins, and possibly some seeds also.

What we did with ours was to wash them, trim anything that needed it, cut them (unpeeled) in half horizontally, and oven roast them at low heat in pyrex baking dishes lightly oiled, topped with a little olive oil and non-iodized salt -- then froze them in bags for cooking or as individual pieces for use in sandwiches or whatever other uses we had for individual tomato-halves. By the time they're roasted they look like modest tomato slices, not like halves.

March 21, 2013	#1
Farmette Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 985	Russo Sicilian Togetta I saw a reference to this tomato in another thread today on paste tomatoes that described it as a meaty tomato with few seeds. I am wondering what other members impressions of it are as when I grew it last year...when I dipped them in boiling water and removed the skins, what was left was a bag of little meat and a lot of seeds. It added good flavor, though, to sauces, etc. But, I am wondering if maybe I have the wrong RS tomato. It looked like a smaller version of Costoluto Genovese. Thanks!

March 21, 2013	#3
Dutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: S.E. Wisconsin Zone 5b Posts: 1,831	Chris, I will be donating LaRoma Hybrid tomato plants to your church sale this spring. The peppers will be Bell Boy. Dutch Last edited by Dutch; March 21, 2013 at 11:43 AM. Reason: Added the words plants and sale

March 25, 2013	#5
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Farmette, I found them a bit small, very seedy and a bit juicy. Flavor was excellent though. However, for sauce and drying, I'm sowing other big paste types this year to grow. __________________ Antoniette

March 30, 2013	#9
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	If I recall correctly, Costoluto Genovese was the one she touted for making the best sauce. All of those varieties in her seed offer she probably used in her wine-soaked dried tomato business. Russo Sicilian Togetta she liked for its toughness as a plant, while still having good flavor. In extremes of weather, it was the one cultivar she had that was most likely to pull through. __________________ -- alias

March 21, 2013	#2
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	I've grown it from two sources and that's what I get as well. It does have nice flavor but it's too much work for what I get production wise for me compared to the larger sausage type pastes.

March 25, 2013	#6
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	I have the strain that brokenbar was touting and sharing a while back. She certainly lauded it as an excellent sauce builder (as I recall). I will say out of a field of 10+ sauce types, for whatever reason it was one of around 5 that I decided to grow again this year. Honestly, though, now I don't recall the seed to meat ratios or flavor for that matter. I just know that it made the cut by some goodness. I'll be keeping far better records this year, so we'll see how she does. BTW, last year I had a computer crash and lost a load of data on my seeds and other related notes. Naysen

March 25, 2013	#7
barefootgardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Michigan Zone 4b Posts: 1,291	My source was also BrokenBar, My RST tomatoes were very similar to the Costoluto Genovese I grow, but the fruits were smaller. Seedy, but the flavor was good from the few that matured..I had a terrible garden year in 2012. Most of my outdoor tomatoes did poorly.. So I did not get enough fruit from RST, to make into sauce, to compare with others.

March 31, 2013	#12
Farmette Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 985	No problem...I too found them to be one of the most prolific tomatoes I grew. Maybe my practice of dipping RS into boiling water c aused the meat to shrink somewhat...I am comparing it to others such as Big Beef which really kept its shape. But, anyway glad to know we are talking about the same tomato. Thanks for you reply.

May 29, 2014	#13
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	Russo Sicilian is an irritating tomato. It grows big, sure, but its main stem is ropy and unable to hold up the weight of the fleshy leaves, so you have to support it every 5 inches along the way up. It loves to branch and branch. The branches are heavy and break off easily. The leaves are fleshy and the aphids like them. This is the first year I am growing Russo, on the strength of brokenbar's dried tomato recipe, and I see many blooms, but it is a really irritating plant.

May 31, 2014	#14
JLJ_ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Wyoming Posts: 759	I 've grown, and like very much, the Russo Sicilia Togeta (also originally from BrokenBar). Mine have been on the small side -- both the tomatoes and the plants -- not monsters at all, but very prolific and continuing to bear even in the early fall weather -- which can be pretty cold here. Shape of mine was not much like Costoluto Genovese. Russo's hide had sharper 'points' on the extrusions, while Costoluto's were more rounded. I would not try to remove the skins. While many roundish tomatoes hold their shape well when dipped in boiling water, then peeled, I can't imagine that a tomato shaped like Russo, with much of the meat in the pointed extrusions, anything but a little shapeless glob would remain after boiling water and skin removal. If I wanted to prepare Russo's for a sauce I'd probably cut them up, cook them a little, cool them a little, and put the whole warm pan, liquid and all, through a colander or food mill to take out the skins, and possibly some seeds also. What we did with ours was to wash them, trim anything that needed it, cut them (unpeeled) in half horizontally, and oven roast them at low heat in pyrex baking dishes lightly oiled, topped with a little olive oil and non-iodized salt -- then froze them in bags for cooking or as individual pieces for use in sandwiches or whatever other uses we had for individual tomato-halves. By the time they're roasted they look like modest tomato slices, not like halves.