You are absolutely correct.
Commercial tomatoes, among other fruits (why do we call it a vegetable when it’s really a fruit?) are ripened with ethylene gas.
The ethylene gas triggers the ripening process. It occurs naturally in plants.
But done artificially it’s said to result in bland tasting food.
https://thereidhomestead.com/how-to-ripen-green-tomatoes/
“But done artificially it’s said to result in bland tasting food.”
I know a trucker who transports food over long distances. He has described the process of gassing the unripe food while it is in transit.
.
That is why supermarket tomatoes are orange, not red.
(And also why they are awful.)
What I’ve heard that they do is load the tractor trailers in Florida with crates
of green unripened tomatoes, close the trailer doors, and pump the
trailer full of ethylene gas. On I-95 from Florida the green tomatoes
’magically’ turn orange in transit, which is supposed the simulate ripeness, I guess.
Which is why almost every summer I grow my own tomatoes.
I have pretty much standardized on the Early Girl and Roma Plum varieties of tomatoes.
Usually I will grow a few of plants one or two other types that I have not yet
grown as an experiment.
I do this in order to determine which varieties do well in 5 gallon pots,
because I am standardized on doing ‘container’ gardening as well.
So I am always trying to figure out which types will do well in pots.
The big varieties (Big Beef, Better Boy, etc.) are to big for 5 gallon pots.
The root systems tend to be constrained and the plants don’t produce
as well as they would if planted in the ground. So you are thinking:
“Why not just put the in the ground?”
The ability to move them into or out of the sun - and the ability the move
them out of reach of the evil chipmunks which can, and do, decimate your crop.
Unless you construct and emplace the “Chipmunk Traps of Death”,
which we can discuss at a later time…
Good Luck on your 2025 crop!