Category: Fruits and nuts

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Pizzutello: An ampelographer writes

Our discussion of Ruoppolo’s grapes found its way to Erika Maul, curator of the German grape collection and manager of the European Vitis database. ((BTW, the brand new and much awaited ECPGR RSS feed tells me this database has recently been improved.)) Many thanks to Helmut Knuepffer for facilitating that process and for providing this translation of Erika’s comments.

About 20 years ago I tried the to solve the confusion concerning Pizzutello, Cornichon Blanc, Dedo de Dama, Kadin Barmak, Lady’s Finger Grape, etc. from behind my writing desk. Since this turned out to be impossible, I then introduced grape varieties from different germplasm collections, to get the thing on track. For various reasons, I did not succeed and since then I did not take up the matter again.

However, what appears certain to me is that these grape forms had quite some importance as a curiosity, due to the particular shape of their fruits. (That shape evolves when the seeds do not develop. The well-shaped outer part includes a seed, while in the inner shorter compartment the seed is only rudimentary.) Presumably these forms come from the Near East, and they do not ripen in our northern growing areas — even in warmer summers.

That will make a nice project for someone some day…

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Brainfood: Wild lentils, Palms, Iron, Soybean

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More on Pizzutello

Our post of a couple of days ago on Ruoppolo’s grapes found its way to an actual grape expert, Anna Schneider of the Istituto di Virologia Vegetale in Italy. I’ve translated her comments below:

I did some research on Ruoppolo and saw that he worked in Naples, so it is indeed possible that the grapes he represented are Pizzutello white, which is actually still grown in Tivoli together with Pergolese and still arrive in the markets of Rome.

On the difference between the painting and the image of the Dedo de dama of Portugal, which is synonymous with Pizzutello, I am not worried: the color obviously depends on environmental conditions, and also the elongation of the berry may be: a) an exaggeration of the artist (who usually tended to exaggerate the more unusual characters, b) intra-varietal diversity (often mostly present in some varieties), c) growing conditions in the absence of “forcing”.

Other synonyms of the same grape variety, which was one of the most popular table varieties in the Mediterranean basin, because of the shape of the berry, to the particular form of the berry, are Cornichon blanc (France), Corazon de cabrito and Teta de vaca in Spain.

These synonyms are the “official” ones; unofficial ones number in the hundreds are hundreds (Galletta, Uva corno, Cornicchiola, Lady finger, etc…)

As a final note, I have a Pizzutello look-alike I recovered in old vineyards that seems a distinct genotype. In fact, it is possible that there is more than one variety with such a berry (and called the same ), although this Pizzutello (Cornichon, Dedo de dama, etc..) Is probably the most widely cultivated both today and in the past and among the oldest documented varieties (perhaps the dactyli grape of Pliny? though as you know such correspondences can never be definitely proven…)

To find out more I would need to do a more thorough search in the literature and among molecular profiles, but for that I would need a little more time…

Many thanks to Anna for taking the time to provide more information than I would have ever have been able to get out of the databases.

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Groping for Ruoppolo’s grapes

Ever seen grapes like the ones in the painting? Just an oddity or widely consumed at the time?

That was Michael, who was visiting the Museo de Bellas Artes in Sevilla a few weeks back, talking about Gianbattista Ruoppolo’s “Bodegón con uvas y manzanas.” Ruoppolo did quite a few fruity still lives, but this particular kind of grape is unusual in the oeuvre. Can we track it down?

Jeremy thought he had seen something similar recently in the market in Rome, and I did eventually manage to get a photo of it. The name here in Rome is “Pizzutello.”

But the “List of the grape varieties registered in the Member States of the European Union” says that there are synonyms. In particular, “Cornichon Blanc” is the primary name for this variety, and it is called other things in different countries.

But it doesn’t look exactly right, does it? So I dived into the European Vitis Database. Because I hadn’t done so before, and I never turn down an opportunity to explore Genebank Database Hell. First, to tie down the defining trait of the variety, the funny shape of the berries. Here are the descriptor states for berry shape allowed by the database.

    1=obloid
    2=globose
    3=broad ellipsoid
    4=narrow ellipsoid
    5=cylindric
    6=obtuse ovoid
    7=ovoid
    8=obovoid
    9=horn-shaped
    10=finger shaped

Horn-shaped, I think, no? That’s how the Italian term “uva corna” translates. And that’s kind of the problem with “Pizzutello”: it doesn’t seem as horny as Ruoppolo’s grapes. So anyway let’s play it safe and look for both 9 and 10. You have to do this in “Advanced search” on the full descriptor list, because berry shape is in none of the more manageable sub-lists of priority descriptors, which is kind of surprising but let that pass.

So what you get is “Dedo de dama” from Portugal, “Heliotrop” from Slovakia and “Tsitsa Kaprei” from Moldova. No “Pizzutello” or “Cornichon” come up in the search, and although there are accessions of the latter in the database, I couldn’t find any photos. If you do a “Photo search” on “Dedo de dama”, you get this:

I’m allowed to use the photo if I acknowledge its source, which I am happy to do: this is a picture of accession PRT051-51209 at the Estaçao Vitivinicola Nacional, Quinta da Almoinha, Portugal, and I got it from the EU.Vitis database.

But is it the same as Ruoppolo’s? Or is “Pizzutello” closer? You tell me.