At times I wonder if our own having twenty or thirty varieties of Beefsteak, Brandywine or the many other classic varieties also contirubtes to the confusion. The dealers I have dealt with here are all wonderful people with of love of what we do, but then you pick up the catalogs or visit the various reference lists and see countless permutations all bearing the same Brandywine, Beefsteak, Rutgers, Marglobe or whatever name but with some small tweak. Granted, there are many well deserved and significantly different, carefully and painstakingly bred offspring with distinct desirable traits, but also many with little or no difference and even some of questionable origin. This is especially frustrating to the rookies and newcomers as we have seen and even more so to the buyer hoping to experience the "true" taste of what everyone is talking about in a Brandywine for example. The seed packets in stores give little or no explanation nor do the markets and groceries. Many just plop them all on a table that says heirloom, 4.50 a pound, while offering some greenhouse grown something. Without some order, some control, some system to better identify and classify this could come back to bite everyone in the rear as the marketing hype ploy of using "heirloom" soon conveys to the public just another way to move products. Even looking to purchase seeds, how many "Beefsteaks" ARE Beefsteaks? Somehow, it seems that if a variety is 99% Beefsteak, but has the smallest difference in shade, but still tastes, has the texture, size, and general appearance of Beefsteak evenen with the floweryest verbiage it either is or is not Beefsteak. Without those Beefsteak qualities, is the public or the seed seller being served, much less the bona fides that mean "heirloom" in the mind of the buyer/consumer. many say there are countless thousands of verifiably different varieties, but today it seems that there is a LOT of wishful marketing that goes into product/varietal launches to seel tomatotoes and tomato seed. I would hazard a guess that DNA tests would be REALLY interesting ...if cost prohibitive..but it would certainly add some sanity. Off of any of my given apple trees there are various shapes and shades, but for the most part they would still carry the same DNA that makes the what they are. Only rarely does a totally different sport produce a truly new varietal ...as the Delicious did.
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