But, truly it is an amazing comment on what the USA, and the world has become. A tasteless and picture perfect version of what it used to be. With no flavor, and no taste. Just filled with watery bile.
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.”
Another 6 weeks before we can plant ours. Haven’t had a decent tomato since Sept.
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Memories from kidhood — summertime, soft white Wonder bread, sliced tomatoes and mayo. Yum!
Remember peaches that aren’t hard as rocks?
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.
Does canning heat destroy the taste of real tomatos??
Every summer there are 200 acres of roma tomatoes grown adjacent to the property here. They all taste like crap.
Nothing beats a Cherokee Purple.
I can’t believe this thread......my Russian neighbor brings us Russian tomatoes whenever he visits Russia. They are an incredible red and absolutely delicious. I am sure I will be unmasked.
Actually, while yield is a major factor, the KEY to why grocery stores sell orangey-red softballs is the need for a tough product that can withstand SHIPPING!
The longevity and resistance to the stresses of packaging and transport are far more important to sellers of tomatoes. Flavour and texture are secondary.
If there was a GMO tomato that tasted half as good as any of the heirloom tomatoes I grow, I’d have no qualms about using it, fresh, canned or as a sauce base.
Try the “Early Girl” tomatoes. Small, about the size of a small tennis ball, but meaty (not all that sloppy seedy crap) and tasty.
Buy them already growing or use seeds. I’ve had two of them grow to 15 feet lengths (one split into two branches, each about 8 feet long - had over 25 tomatoes on it).
A little delayed action fertilizer is like Viagra to them.
Keep watered and in the sun.
We had late blooming tomatoes into early December.
Tomatoes were discovered in Mexico and taken back to Europe.
Potatoes were discovered in Peru and taken back to Europe.
Both have been “bred” for certain characteristics.
Both are somewhat bland to me, so adding plenty of salt is helpful.
My father would eat tomatoes like an apple, just chomping into one. And adding salt. That is how I learned.
Cloning dilutes any plant if done enough
Don’t doubt me
We either have to grow them ourselves or get them from the market for that wonderful flavor. I hate not being able to buy good ones at the store.
Grow your own, at least for 2-3 months you can eat tasty tomatoes, or is it tomatos :)
Only two things that money cain’t buy,
That’s true love an home growed tomaters.