Campari tomato

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Campari
Commercial campari tomatoes
Stats
Maturity	80 days
Type	Hybrid
Vine	Indeterminate
Plant height	9 feet
Fruit Weight	medium
Leaf	regular leaf
Resist.	T
Color	Bicolor: Red
Shape	globe

Campari is a variety of tomato, noted for its juiciness, high sugar level, low acidity, and lack of mealiness. Camparis are deep red and larger than a cherry tomato, but smaller and rounder than a plum tomato. The popularity of the campari took off in North America in 2002, following a brief appearance on the television mafia drama The Sopranos.

Originally from Europe, the campari was introduced in North America in 1997 by the Mastronardi Produce company, based in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Paul Mastronardi, a fourth-generation employee at the company, experimented with about 60 varieties of seeds before settling on the campari, after being urged by a customer to "Throw out all the rules that say big, big, big and let's focus only on flavour and see what that tomato looks like."^[1]

Sales of camparis have grown rapidly since the variety was introduced, and the tomato maintains a loyal following. The tomato is produced by three suppliers in North America, Eurofresh Farms, BC Hothouse, and Mastronardi Produce, the latter two in Canada. Together, the producers form the Campari Marketing Group, which produces 50 million pounds of camparis annually, as of 2005.^[1]^[2]

The campari cultivar is a globe-shaped hybrid, with regular leaves, and exhibits resistance to the tobacco mosaic virus. The plant grows 6-8 ft., and matures in 69-80 days.^[3]