Here's a photo of a bushel of tomatoes at the grocery store...
Posted on 08/04/2018 4:25:08 PM PDT by vannrox
Did you know that the tomato is a fruit? It actually is, you know. It certainly does not taste like one today. Though, it really used to. Tomatoes used to be sweet and delicious.
That is, until the 1920’s in the United States. What in the world was going on then? All that damned “Progressivism” and trying to change America into a utopia ruled by a benevolent wealthy class. Nonsense. Oh, yes. They implemented the Federal income tax, and they banned alcohol and did all kinds of things (like giving the right to vote to woman) to turn the world into “Heaven on Earth”. Yup. That’s why they dragged us into a war in Europe (one that our founders promised and vowed that we would never ever get tangled up into again…).
Oh, but I digress… after all, they meant well.
In part of the rush to make America a utopia, numerous programs were set in motion. One of which was reengineering the tomato. The bland, sterile, and cardboard-tasting tomato is the result of what happens when well-meaning people tries to improve something. Progressive millennials please take note.
Let me tell you all the secret story of the destruction of the humble tomato…
(Excerpt) Read more at metallicman.com ...
no you can’t...we give up the taste for the convenience...
Tomatoes have a lot of acid in them, but they can still be sweet and flavorful. But even the ones you can get at the u-pick farm are flavorless and too pithy.
The Walmart in our rural community started buying tomatoes from local farmers in Grainger Co TN. Oh! so good. They taste like homegrown because they are homegrown. I love growing tomatoes and so do neighbors. However, the deer, diseases and pests make it a real challenge. The natives tell me that forty years ago, there were no deer, diseases or insect pest for their gardens. That’s a good thing because if the farmers of yesteryear had the pests of today, they would have starved.
Now I hear that gov’t is bringing back elk to the state. Does anyone know if elk eat tomatoes?
1st, someone needs a grammar lesson and 2nd, even the hybrid tomatoes are great but only if they truly ripen on the vine.
This will tell you what happened to the tomato.
http://www.ritterfarms.com/graingercountytomato.html
Does not change the fact that at the time the author was talking about in many places tomatoes were eaten with cream and sugar because they were full of acid rather then sugars.
People forget how much foods have been altered to suit our tastes in the past 100 years.
Corn and tomatoes are two that are much sweeter.
My favorite variety is Japanese tomatoes, which are very tasty. They're more pink than red. A vendor at my local farmer's market used to sell them.
For an old-fashioned tomato flavor, try one of the classic canning varieties such as Old Brooks or Bonny Best. Silvery Fir Tree (Russian, heirloom, attractive fern foliage) has tart fruit.
The extra-sweet modern corn varieties don't have the good old corn flavor I remember. The older sweet corn varieties are su (normal sugary) not se (sugary extender), sh2 (supersweet) or sy (synergistic). Kernels not as tender, doesn't stay as sweet as long when picked, but has the good old-fashioned corn flavor.
>They used to eat tomatoes with sugar because they were sour.
I had some sour tomatoes once and tried some maple syrup on them. Ummm Good.
It’s one of the reason more and more people are using farmer’s markets. Of course, it is very expensive - I rarely get home without spending 40 bucks on two tomatoes, a ripe melon, a lettuce or carrots and a fresh baguette. If I go to Stop & Shop or Aldis, I can bring home all of that and it all tastes terrible. But it is cheap.
I’ve got a red delicious apple tree. The ones in the store are picked green. Left to tree-ripen they are incredibly ‘delicious’.
In my backyard are a large number of fruit trees and scuppernong vines. One of the pear trees bears awful fruit while the other makes delicious ones.
The scuppernong vines are about the same. About one third are almost too sweet and maybe a third are not sweet enough.
The best thing is two Japanese persimmons. Absolutely great. Unfortunately I lose most of them to deer and insects etc.
Also have an apple tree (in Florida no less). It is OK but nothing extra. Peaches are good but are small.
Also have plums and Satsumas. The plums almost do not produce but the satsumas are prolific every year. Also plenty of figs but the birds get most of them.
I was once visiting my Sister and Brother-in-Law in Chesterfield County, VA. He was a federal agent and drove a lot in the Virginia countryside.
He stopped at a farmers roadside stand and bought a half bushel of apples. I have never had such good ones both sweet and flavorful.
bumpmark
I’m eating corn on the cob I just bought at Trader Joes in northern VA. the corn is very sweet. I love it with butter salt & pepper & garlic.
Corn is a tough garden crop in the Florida Panhandle. My parents would always put on lots of poison and there would still be corn borers on the end of the ear.
Mother would always just chop that part off.
When I lived in Western, Kansas the supermarkets always had corn for 10 cents an ear and it would always be perfect, beautiful looking, tasty corn. I think they just don’t have the pests like we did in Florida.
Looks good! LOL!!!
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”
Ever.
These so-called "love apples" are a waste of money......and useless as a part of one's regular produce purchases....as they used to be in the good old days.
I don't buy them anymore. I haven't had a decent tomato, home-grown or store-bought since relocating years ago from Illinois (where I grew luscious Beefsteaks in my garden) to Florida.
(sigh....)
Leni
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