Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: B4Ranch
Are tomatoes picked by hand or mechanically?

I'm not sure, but whatever machine used would have to have some pretty sophisticated programming. Where I live, they used to be picked by hand very early in the morning (with all luck, after a hot, humid night, otherwise they don't get good and ripe). The other thing to remember, is that fruit doesn't ripen all at once. You can be picking off the same tree, vine, crown or bush for a couple weeks. Anything mechanized would not be able to make that distinction. It would pick anything and everything, even stuff that has mold, is being eaten by pests, etc. There's a lot more to it than just picking.

65 posted on 06/19/2011 6:47:22 AM PDT by Desdemona ( If trusting the men in the clergy was a requirement for Faith, there would be no one in the pews.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies ]


To: Desdemona

Tomatoes are now picked mechanically thanks to the illegal immigrant fuss in the early 60’s. Ceaser Chavez and his crowd. They are rock hard and solid green when picked out of the field. They go to the sorting shed where a group of ladies pull the damaged ones off the conveyor belt to be used as tomato sauce. The others get dipped in water to clean them then they are dried with an air blower. Sorted for size and packed. The ones sorted for grocery stores get gassed to turn them shiny red, then trucked to the stores. No, they are not flavorful but American mommies continue to buy them because they are taught to.

You can pick any berry or vegetable when they are rock hard, sort and sell them and American shoppers will buy them. Heck even the ones in the cans get most of their flavor from added spices and/or sweeteners.

I remember when the strawberry pickers were out of the fields by 10AM. Now the mechanical harvester doesn’t start until ten. They don’t want the morning dew on the raw berries.


66 posted on 06/19/2011 7:17:33 AM PDT by B4Ranch (Allowing Islam into America is akin to injecting yourself with AIDS to prove how tolerant you are...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson