Store-Bought Tomatoes: Why Don't They Taste Good?

[das_nut]

Here's an interesting article with a few theories:

Picking tomatoes green and ripening them artificially is what makes them taste bad, according to Brett Clement, managing editor of Tomato Magazine. The longer a tomato stays on the vine, the higher its sugar levels and the better it tastes. But "tomatoes that are too ripe present difficulties for the food-service industry," Clement told us. "Slice into them and all the seeds and juice fall out."

According to Smith, what generates those "tomato-like pink things you find at the salad bar" is just the grower's choice of "cultivar"—the breed of tomato. Some cultivars that are picked green and treated with ethylene taste "absolutely wonderful," he insisted. But growers often choose cultivars based on soil and weather conditions, disease resistance, year-round availability, and profitability.

Next, we tried Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the Florida Tomato Committee. She said a tomato's taste has everything to do with handling. "Cold will absolutely kill the flavor," she noted. "A tomato produces a flavor enzyme as it ripens. As soon as the temperature goes below 55 degrees, the enzyme stops producing flavor—permanently." Nevertheless, tomatoes are often shipped with lettuce at its preferred temperature of 37 degrees.

We also spoke with Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission. Another problem, he said, is that people's tastes differ with locale, personal experience, and ethnicity. Southwesterners, for example, like acidic tomatoes, while people who grow their own tomatoes lean towards the sweeter varieties. Hispanics, meanwhile, tend to prefer pink, firm tomatoes.

Although this article has a different theory:

The mass-produced tomatoes we buy at the grocery store tend to taste more like cardboard than fruit. Now researchers have discovered one reason why: a genetic mutation, common in store-bought tomatoes, that reduces the amount of sugar and other tasty compounds in the fruit.

For the last 70-odd years, tomato breeders have been selecting for fruits that are uniform in color. Consumers prefer those tomatoes over ones with splotches, and the uniformity makes it easier for producers to know when it's time to harvest.

But the new study, published this week in Science, found that the mutation that leads to the uniform appearance of most store-bought tomatoes has an unintended consequence: It disrupts the production of a protein responsible for the fruit's production of sugar.

 

[thefadedone]

I am fortunate to live in an area that has numerous produce stands and farmer's markets during the summer that have perfect locally grown tomatoes. They are so juicy and flavorful.

I miss them during the off seasons. I just suck it up and buy the store bought ones during those times.

Yep. I'm typically too lazy to take the time, but one of these days I should really get off me bum and go. They're on Wednesdays AND Saturdays.

You really need to take advantage of this. Not only will you probably find delicious affordable produce , but you will be giving money to your local growers instead of places like Whole Foods or Target. Plus you never know what else you might find there. Farmer's markets tend to have a huge variety of cool stuff like spices, homemade jams/jellys, salsas, baked goods, arts and crafts, toiletries, etc.

 

[Amy SF]

Next, we tried Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the Florida Tomato Committee. She said a tomato's taste has everything to do with handling. "Cold will absolutely kill the flavor," she noted. "A tomato produces a flavor enzyme as it ripens. As soon as the temperature goes below 55 degrees, the enzyme stops producing flavor—permanently." Nevertheless, tomatoes are often shipped with lettuce at its preferred temperature of 37 degrees.

This explains why tomato buyers are cautioned not to refrigerate tomatoes, at least right away, but leave them sitting out to ripen further. Just put them in the fridge right before you're going to use them, so you can have cold tomatoes AND flavorful tomatoes.

That's probably what I did wrong with the vine tomatoes I bought at TJ's last week. I refrigerated them right away because I hadn't bought large tomatoes in ages and I forgot it's better to leave them sitting out.

 

[ledboots]

This explains why tomato buyers are cautioned not to refrigerate tomatoes, at least right away, but leave them sitting out to ripen further. Just put them in the fridge right before you're going to use them, so you can have cold tomatoes AND flavorful tomatoes.

That's probably what I did wrong with the vine tomatoes I bought at TJ's last week. I refrigerated them right away because I hadn't bought large tomatoes in ages and I forgot it's better to leave them sitting out.

Yes, and if they are really underripe, you can put them in a paper bag on the counter for faster ripening. I do this with lots of kinds of fruits. Some people put an apple in the bag also, the off-gases help to ripen the other fruit.

Some tomatoes are just going to taste fake and pink, but decent ones will be better ripened.

 

[nigel1]

What crazyqueen said.

Also, "vine ripe" has become pretty meaningless in the good-tasting tomato world. Those at Trader's for example, are actually bred to have strong peduncles so they stay on their stems longer and make the consumer feel like they are getting something closer to the field. Flavor is never a component.

As much as we like fresh foods, out of season tomatoes are one of the biggest disappointments in the culinary world. If you want to eat them year-round, do what the "Italians" do and eat quality canned tomatoes (or even better, jarred) when they are out of season. They can be wonderful.

 

[ledboots]

What crazyqueen said.

Also, "vine ripe" has become pretty meaningless in the good-tasting tomato world. Those at Trader's for example, are actually bred to have strong peduncles so they stay on their stems longer and make the consumer feel like they are getting something closer to the field. Flavor is never a component.

As much as we like fresh foods, out of season tomatoes are one of the biggest disappointments in the culinary world. If you want to eat them year-round, do what the "Italians" do and eat quality canned tomatoes (or even better, jarred) when they are out of season. They can be wonderful.

I use canned out of season, but luckily I live in a place where winter tomatoes can grow, so I can get decent fresh most of the year.

 

[Danielle]

But not everyone has a garden. Is it possible to grow tomatoes in a small space such as a condo/apartment/flat? I have no garden or even a balcony. Oh halp.

Phototron, maybe?


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[Amy SF]

Phototron, maybe?


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Phototron was the head of the Dephroniac Strike Force that the teenaged Darth Vader was a part of in Star Wars VIII: The Adolescent Angst Years. Darth saw Phototron as a hero and looked up to him until Phototron betrayed him by taking Darth's girlfriend Sephonia as a mistress. Sephonia, of course, turned out to be Luke and Leia's mother, as shown in Star Wars IX: The Wedding and Pregnancy.

ETA: Boy, George Lucas is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for story ideas, isn't he?

 

[Danielle]

Phototron was the head of the Dephroniac Strike Force that the teenaged Darth Vader was a part of in Star Wars VIII: The Adolescent Angst Years. Darth saw Phototron as a hero and looked up to him until Phototron betrayed him by taking Darth's girlfriend Sephonia as a mistress. Sephonia, of course, turned out to be Luke and Leia's mother, as shown in Star Wars IX: The Wedding and Pregnancy.

ETA: Boy, George Lucas is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for story ideas, isn't he?