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Big, Red and Tasteless: Why Tomatoes Lost Their Flavor
Live Science ^ | 26JAN17 | Laura Geggel, Senior Writer

Posted on 04/04/2017 4:44:54 PM PDT by vannrox

Ever wonder why most store-bought tomatoes are so tasteless? The answer (surprise, surprise) has to do with revenue: Tomato farmers care about yield, and the genetic variants associated with yield are not associated with tasty tomato flavors, a new study finds.

"Consumers complain that the modern tomato has little flavor. [It's] like a 'water bomb,'" said the study's co-principal investigator Sanwen Huang, the deputy director general at the Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

How can farmers ditch this "water bomb" and reinstate the rich, sweet flavor of the tomato? To find out, Huang and colleagues investigated which genes are associated with tomatoes' taste.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; business; flavor; food; tomato
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To: nickcarraway
You have to buy heirloom tomatoes

I am even discovering that their are heirloom tomatoes with all the texture and color of the originals, but still no taste. Agribusiness can screw up anything.

21 posted on 04/04/2017 5:15:47 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: vannrox

Basically August and September are the tomato months. Grow them in your yard or buy at farm stands.


22 posted on 04/04/2017 5:16:43 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: vannrox

All our common produce sucks. Apples, pears, peaches. Everything is picked hard and never ripens or gains flavor.

One trip to Europe and their fresh fruit makes you realize how the robber barons here have screwed us over completely and sold us out for maximum profit. Our produce is often tasteless.


23 posted on 04/04/2017 5:17:17 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (The GOP will see the light, because Trump will make them feel the heat.it is hugh and series)
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To: vannrox

I have noticed this with the honeycrisp apple also. I understand it was a hybrid or engineered but they were the most delicious fruit I had ever eaten when I discovered them about six years ago. Fast forward a couple of years and they are now I. The market weighing in at 2 lbs an apple and all the awesome flavor GONE.


24 posted on 04/04/2017 5:18:03 PM PDT by clarissaexplainsitall
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To: vannrox

I believe a lot of it is indirectly due to the Farm Workers Union as led by Cesar Chavez. He organized California farmworkers into a union to get higher wages and better working conditions for what used to be called ‘stoop labor’. Boycotts of grapes, lettuce and tomatoes were big deals in the late 60s and 70s. And he beat the “greedy farmers” down and won!

But then technology raised its ugly head. Harvesting machines were developed that could basically shake the tomatoes off of the plant and harvest them without the need of more expensive labor. Only problem with that was that the tomatoes were damaged by the machines, tomatoes being thin-skinned and all. So researchers at agricultural universities created tomatoes that could withstand the rough handling. Only problem was they didn’t have much in the way of flavor. But, hey they’re affordable!

So, just like cotton, people doing an unskilled, crappy job demanded more money for their labor, machines were invented to do their jobs, and now they sit back and collect welfare. Perhaps a cautionary tale for fast food workers.


25 posted on 04/04/2017 5:21:52 PM PDT by hanamizu
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To: AndyJackson

You have to find a real grower, not an industrial farm.


26 posted on 04/04/2017 5:29:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: clarissaexplainsitall

We buy most honey crisps from a local orchard in Wisconsin. Most delicious. Look into where your supermarket’s supplier. The best tasting apples are from northern states. They can be grown in other areas but the results are not as flavorful.


27 posted on 04/04/2017 5:29:27 PM PDT by UB355 (Slower traffic keep right)
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To: vannrox

Unfortunately, most of the tomatoes available even in gourmet stores are grown in Mexico, and that even includes the heirloom variety. I will not eat any produce grown in Mexico, so I often have to settle for canned Italian tomatoes.

The best source of tomatoes for me is weekly farmer’s markets. I especially like to buy Japanese tomatoes when they are available. These are not as red as the usual tomatoes—they’re more pink. However, they are very flavorful.


28 posted on 04/04/2017 5:30:35 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: vannrox
Most produce is crap these days.

Its grown thousands of miles away from where its sold.

Its often rotten before its ripe.

You want good tomatoes; grow your own.

29 posted on 04/04/2017 5:32:49 PM PDT by Pietro
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To: nickcarraway

You have to buy heirloom tomatoes or ones at the farmers market.

***
Or grow your own.


30 posted on 04/04/2017 5:45:27 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Vacate the chair! Ryan must go.)
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To: digger48

That’s close to my summer mater sammich:

white bread
real tomato
Duke’s mayonnaise
salt


31 posted on 04/04/2017 5:47:23 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Vacate the chair! Ryan must go.)
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To: vannrox

Most consumers want picture perfect vegetables and fruit. As people who garden can tell you that has nothing to do with taste.


32 posted on 04/04/2017 5:48:27 PM PDT by Tammy8 (Please be a regular supporter of Free Republic !)
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To: vannrox; greeneyes

Lemon Boys and Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes. She makes my day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xZeNueckzg


33 posted on 04/04/2017 5:49:32 PM PDT by OftheOhio (never could dance but always could kata - Romeo company)
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To: vannrox

Absolutely necessary to buy organic non-gmo fruits, veggies, all the rest. Then you have a chance. Plus, the original nutrients are there…what my dad referred to as “food value.”


34 posted on 04/04/2017 5:55:51 PM PDT by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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To: digger48
LOL!

That was my grandpa's favorite things to eat in the summer.

He grew his own beefsteaks and ate them like you described. (minus the chips).

As a child, I never really appreciated why we always had beefsteaks and white bread as a side dish when visiting the grandparents.

40 years later, what I wouldn't pay for one of those beautiful tomatoes.

35 posted on 04/04/2017 6:01:56 PM PDT by boop ("We don't feel like we are doing anything illegal"- Democrat credo)
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To: markomalley

Tomatoes are not GMO.


36 posted on 04/04/2017 6:02:07 PM PDT by sphinx
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To: musicman

BFLR


37 posted on 04/04/2017 6:05:48 PM PDT by musicman (The future is just a collection of successive nows.)
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To: vannrox

Another 6 weeks before we can plant ours. Haven’t had a decent tomato since Sept.


38 posted on 04/04/2017 6:09:43 PM PDT by Eagles6 (My weapons are lubricated by liberal tears.)
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To: markomalley

Heirloom and indeterminate. If you do t know what indeterminate has to do with tomatoes, well you need to learn.
Try a Porter variety, full of flavor.
Another is “Mortgage Lifter”. Yes, an actual type of tomatoe.
This article could also be about California fruit. Great color and shape but no flavor. My first trip to CA showed some beautiful fruit at the roadside stands. Apricots and peaches that tasted like cardboard.
Just like the ones in the grocery store.


39 posted on 04/04/2017 6:13:37 PM PDT by 9422WMR (President Trump, I like the sound of that!)
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To: pepsi_junkie

Eh, I don’t live in NJ so I don’t know if they are available roadside, but I thought they were gone...

Rugters has come out with similar varieties due to the demand by area farmers to bring back the flavor...I actually ordered a bunch of seed for this season...Hope I am swimming in wonderful Jersey Beefsteak-like tomatoes :)

http://njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/rutgers-njaes-tomato-seeds-order-form.pdf


40 posted on 04/04/2017 6:16:03 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out - D. Horowitz)
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