Progress report

This winter we are fine tuning a few lines that weren't quite ready in 2012, with seed production planned for this summer at Baia Nicchia.  Expect a few more color variations in the Bumble Bee and Tiger series and a couple of larger fruited offerings.

Here are some photos of new things in the pipeline.  We continue to be dedicated to breeding tomatoes that look as good as they taste - and taste as good as they look.

This one nearly finished

A striped crimson heart

Indigo striped cherry - almost done 

One of several new "Indigo" lines 

One of the tastiest in 2012

A new striped heart

Open for Business

We are open for business!  This fall/winter we will be offering seed of three tomatoes, a Highland Kale and Mareko Fana pepper.  Each truly unique and flavorful.  Checkout our commercial website www.growartisan.com to order seed.

Captain Lucky has been the rave of SF Bay Area restaurants this summer/fall (news link here), but we saved enough fruit for a moderate supply of seed for customers this winter.  Millard Murdock, a North Carolina tomato aficionado and artisan breeder, found a unique outcross in this garden several years ago and through generations of breeding stabilized this beauty.  He has shared this with several of his tomato friends - with outstanding reviews.  Early this year Millard agreed to become the first artisan breeder to enlist Artisan Seeds as his preferred seed marketer. Captain Lucky is a medium/late maturing beefsteak with an amber/red patterned exterior and a wonderful green/red bicolor interior.  This is on many people's short list for best tasting tomato - period!

Captain Lucky (photo by Millard Murdock)

Captain Lucky inerior

Purple Bumblebee (link) is a purple cherry tomato with green stripes. Fred Hempel of Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, CA is the breeder. Fred has been perfecting striped cherry and grape types for several years - this is one of his best.

A swarm of Bumblebees (Purple in center)

Pink Bumblebee (link) is a pink cherry with yellow stripes.  This is another of Fred's new "Bumblebee" line of striped cherries.  Like it's purple sister line, is colorful and delicious.  Try and stop from popping a few of these into your mouth every time you go out into the garden.

Highland Kale

Highland Kale is a leafy green with the flavor of kale and the tenderness of mustard.  The germplasm is from Ethiopia, and it's been perfected at Baia Nicchia.  This is in hot demand a SF Bay Area restaurants, with seed now available to the public for the first time.  




Mareko Fana is a purple/brown pepper that is a core ingredient of many Ethiopian dishes (link).  Extremely flavorful, this has also been a hit with SF Bay Area restaurants.  Seed of Fred's selection from the diverse Mareko Fana germplasm is only available here.

Mareko Fana pepper

There are several new things in the hopper.  Next season we will be evaluating several new products in our California, Minnesota and Pennsylvania trials - with the best of these available next fall.  In future posts on this website we will be providing potential new product and research updates.







http://baianicchia.blogspot.com/2012/02/mareko-fana-diversity.html

Introducing Artisan Seeds

Artisan Seeds LLC is a joint venture between two breeding programs/farms - Baia Nicchia  and FrogsLeap Farm.  Baia Nicchia is located in Sunol, CA and has been breeding tomatoes and other selected vegetables for over a decade.  Baia Nicchia has previously released the acclaimed tomato varieties Blush and Maglia Rosa nationally, and a handful of other unique varieties in the San Francisco bay area.  Frogleap Farm is located near Prior Lake, MN and has focused on introducing new combinations of traits in tomatoes.  In 2011 Baia Nicchia and FrogsLeap Farm combined the two breeding programs and continue to focus on combining excellent flavor with unique colors and shapes - both programs have used stripes to further distinguish their varieties.  The combined breeding program has multiple breeding and testing nurseries throughout the U.S.

New Artisan Tomato^TM Cherries

In addition to introducing their own new varieties, Artisan Seeds is working to identify, trial and market exceptional new tomato varieties developed by like-minded breeders, dedicated to quality, taste and uniqueness.  Artisan Seeds will offer a commercial venue for breeders of outstanding new tomatoes – with a portion of seed sales revenue returning directly to the artisan breeder.  Tomato breeders should contact Artisan Seeds directly to inquire about submitting varieties for trialing (fred@growartisan.com).

Our first releases of Artisan Tomato^TM tomato varieties will be announced this summer, with seed and/or plant purchases available Fall 2012.