[who knows what evil?]

The poor taste is because they are picked green and not allowed to vine ripen. Then they are exposed in factory warehouses to ethylene gas which causes them to turn red. They look ripe but they are not ripe, hence the tastelessness.

Bingo. The people want tomatoes that LOOK good, so quit your bitching.

[OrioleFan]

At the end of the season I pick the remaining green tomatoes and put them in a brown paper bag with an apple.

[T-Bone Texan]

"...The people want tomatoes that LOOK good, so quit your bitching...."

I posit that the driving force is not the consumer's desires but rather the goal of the seller to provide a good looking tomato.

I understand that the strain of tomato is entirely different from the ones we ate as kids, bred to be rugged and robust. It was not bred to taste good.

I was told by an old Italian lady to add calcium to the soil to prevent rot in the fruit. Anybody ever hear that? I amended the soil with eggshells. Don't know if that will work.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

We havent been given a choice. If they offered us a bin of tomayoes that look good vs another bin that tasted good, you just might see us gravitate to the good looking bin.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

We havent been given a choice. If they offered us a bin of tomayoes that look good vs another bin that tasted good, you just might see us gravitate to the good TASTING bin. I meant good tadting. I hope that wasnt a freudian slip.