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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: vannrox

Live in western Colorado in a agricultural area fed by good soil and irrigation from the Colorado River ... in addition to great wine, peach orchards, fresh produce, including tomatoes (in season) are the best. Heirloom tomatoes are especially tasty ...


41 posted on 04/04/2017 6:16:49 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: sphinx
Tomatoes are not GMO.

Did you read the article? They are looking to genetically engineer in flavor.

42 posted on 04/04/2017 6:17:19 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: vannrox

It really doesn’t have that much to do with the variety. The biggest reason your average store-bought tomato has no taste is that they are picked green and then put in cold storage so they can be marketed over a span of months. When it’s time to market them, they pump CO2 and other gases into the cold locker, and that turns them red. But, even though they are red, you are eating a green tomato.


43 posted on 04/04/2017 6:24:43 PM PDT by eastexsteve
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To: Williams

mom used to feed us tomato sandwiches with mayo grown from only a few plants and we had 6 kids. I never knew how poor we were until I grew up and after the military lived my life. Many weeks it was like a daily schedule, we’d have green bean casserole with hot dogs, or spaghetti, manwich. Sure we were poor and may not of realized it at the time BUT I’m am so grateful I was raised with our father and mother together and even today thank my mom for raising me in the Catholic schools up north (which were free for a time)
Thanks again Mom.


44 posted on 04/04/2017 6:34:10 PM PDT by Undecided 2012
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To: PA Engineer

I grow tomatoes from seed my neighbor gave me.

He was an attorney from NY and represented a mob family.

In appreciation for his service, they told him they wanted to give him these seeds. They came from Italy in the early 1900s and were only shared with family. It was meant as an honor when they included him.

There are two varieties.

My neighbor has grown them for 40 years. He is now 89.

They are delicious and beautiful.

I call them Mob Tomatoes.


45 posted on 04/04/2017 6:41:01 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: vannrox

The irony of all this needs an analogy: that of hi-fidelity stereo vs. crummy mono in music. Scientists assumed that Hi-Fi would be much more popular, despite its expense, because its sound quality was leaps and bounds over that of mono.

What they didn’t count on was that only a fraction of people have good enough hearing to tell the difference. Which is a big part of why rock ‘n’ roll with its strong beat, is far more popular than complex harmonies over large scales.

So what finally sold was “okay” stereo, cheap enough for the tone limited yet with much better sound quality.

And yet something like this applies to tomatoes and other foods, like chicken, as well. Most people can’t really tell enough to care what their tomato *tastes* like, as long as it has a good “mouth feel”, texture, and is large and easier to slice without a Ginsu.


46 posted on 04/04/2017 6:48:45 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Leftists aren't fascists. They are "democratic fascists", a completely different thing.)
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To: eastexsteve

You’ve never tasted a really great tomato or carrots until you’ve added rock dust. A couple of years ago we also added 20 pounds of greensand from New Jersey under the tomatos, and will add more this year. It’s expensive, at Agway, but worth it. Someday we’ll see if we can find it by the trailer load in New Jersey. We just throw it on and spade it in. The rock dust also makes the soil easier to dig and retains water. For the first time we eren’t bothered by slugs eating the tomatos. The rock dust has sharp edges and they don’t like crawling over it.

Heard about it on the Coast to Coast AM radio show, then read about it on the internet, and in a book about Findhorn garden in Scotland.

About 50 years ago, I grew a batch of tomatos that was amazingly sweet and delicious. I figured it was the variety, so for many years tried different varities with no luck. Then I heard about rock dust on the radio show and realized what must have happened. The good year, had planted them inan area where granite had been quarried and the soil was loaded with the dust from drilling.

About 5 years ago I added a yard of rock dust spread all over the garden. Tried several varieties of tomatos. All were super sweet and delicious. It greatly improved the taste of carrots and beets, and to a lesser degree, other vegetables.


47 posted on 04/04/2017 6:50:52 PM PDT by Mogger
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To: Pietro

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.


I don’t know it is rotten, but it is under-ripened when picked...Many fruits either stop ripening (strawberries) or don’t develop the proper flavor (tomatoes) when picked too soon.


48 posted on 04/04/2017 6:51:28 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out - D. Horowitz)
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To: 9422WMR

Love Mortgage Lifter..Unfortunately, so do the squirrels and chipmunks...If you, or anyone else has tips to discourage them from taking a bite or two from each of my tomatoes, I would appreciate it...They are the bane of my gardening existence—Rodents and squash bugs!!!


49 posted on 04/04/2017 6:57:05 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out - D. Horowitz)
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To: Freedom56v2

They are probably looking for water. Put shallow pan out located a distance away from the tomatoes and hopefully that will keep them from taking a bite or two from your tomatoes.


50 posted on 04/04/2017 7:09:07 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission
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To: vannrox

We have seen how they harvest them in the fields. They are harvested GREEN, because the skin is firmer allowing for less bruising, then chemically ‘ripened’ to red color. However, they are still green. Dont buy any store-distributed tomatoes that don’t have the stems attached.


51 posted on 04/04/2017 7:17:49 PM PDT by rstrahan
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To: vannrox

A lady at the farmers’ market in Davis used to sell a variety called Park’s Whoppers. When we first discovered them, we’d buy a grocery bag full of them and practically live off of them for a week, they were so delicious. But you had to get there early or they’d sell out.

As their popularity increased, the lady began to act like she was doing you a favor even selling you her Park Whoppers. Then I realized she, like everyone else in Davis, was a Communist, and her attitude seemed say, “how dare some of you starving students, albeit Capitalist pigs at heart, try to buy up all my Whoppers and deprive the poor peasants their rightful share.” So she restricted sales to three or four tomatoes per customer and soon went out of business. And all the peasants starved to death. Hahahaha, stupid Communists.

Anyway, haven’t had a Park Whopper since. I check Park’s catalog occasionally and they still have them and claim they are better than ever.

It’s amazing to peruse the seed catalogs and see all the different varieties that are available out there, hundreds of them. Bet they’re good. Waaay better than store bought.


52 posted on 04/04/2017 7:17:54 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Williams
My wife and I ate tomato sandwiches all the time when we were first married and broke.

We're retired now and living on our own farm with a big garden and a greenhouse, so we grow our own tomatoes and other vegetables. They are delicious.

But even when we lived in cities and towns, we grew tomatoes in flower beds or pots. Can't imagine not having a fresh, delicious tasty homegrown tomato for a meal.

53 posted on 04/04/2017 7:21:11 PM PDT by HotHunt
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To: nickcarraway

There’s a pick-your-own farm not far from where I live. They have lots of big red ripe tomatoes that you can pick off of the vine, but they’re not very flavorful.


54 posted on 04/04/2017 7:21:28 PM PDT by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them.)
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To: All

Memories from kidhood — summertime, soft white Wonder bread, sliced tomatoes and mayo. Yum!


55 posted on 04/04/2017 7:34:42 PM PDT by Exit148 ((Loose Chnge Club founder) Put yours aside for the next Freepathon!)
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To: digger48

Substitute potato salad for the chips and Whip.


56 posted on 04/04/2017 7:36:43 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (Fear is the mind killer.)
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To: vannrox

Remember peaches that aren’t hard as rocks?


57 posted on 04/04/2017 7:37:04 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: vannrox

When Cesar Chavez succeeded in eliminating the Bracero program tomato farmers turned to the seed companies and to Food Machinery Corporation to solve their picker problem. They came up with a tomato hybrid of which 40% plus would mature in a short given period of time. Second they came up with a mechanized picker that would pick tomatos, vines and all, harvest the good stuff, and shred and return the rest to the earth as mulch. The problem is that you lost the beefsteak and other wonderful old tomato types. The Big Boy in later years was popular became it managed to return some taste to the tomato; as far as the beefsteak is concerned, I’m not sure you can buy its seed anymore. Sad.


58 posted on 04/04/2017 7:38:23 PM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: clarissaexplainsitall
The market weighing in at 2 lbs an apple and all the awesome flavor GONE.

HoneyCrisp were $3.50 a pound at Costco last week.

59 posted on 04/04/2017 7:39:30 PM PDT by itsahoot (As long as there is money to be divided, there will be division.)
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I will say this, if ya live near Katy Texas these 2 old guys on Dahlia Lane competed back yard to back yard, and sold (may even still sell) great family fresh corn, tomatoes, what ever from the front driveway. I wish i had their growing skills.
Yes, I like less regulations.


60 posted on 04/04/2017 7:47:26 PM PDT by Undecided 2012
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