Thread: French Tomatoes
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Old October 4, 2017   #7
zipcode
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6
Posts: 1,582
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Saveol has the whole range of colours (they are a big grower in France but they export in all of Europe). From the shapes and colours, they seem to use the novelty tomatoes from Gautier Semences, also in France, there aren't many F1s that could fit the description. You can look on their site for names (the heart is probably Cauralina F1 and the black Marnera F1 for example).
As for taste and production, it depends, I had once a mix pack from Saveol, with yellow, black, green zebra, and a red cocktail. The black was tasteless indeed, and rather crunchy, but the rest were absolutely smashing, and I would challenge anyone to do better with any heirlooms, it's just the usual disdain for hybrids. They're just like what Fred Hempel is doing, except in F1 form (if they even are F1, growing some F2 I get pretty much the same thing). 'Novelty' shape and colours with better shelf life and a bit better production, for the specialty market. Like with all tomatoes, the end result will be more dependent on how they're grown than with the variety.
Maybe next year or the next I'll share seeds for the zebra if it proves stable, it is possibly the best tomato I have ever tried, and it keeps the taste in all conditions (planted this year also in a friend's garden, where it was insanely wet, and they finally died of late blight a week ago but taste was strong throughout).
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