Big, Red and Tasteless: Why Tomatoes Lost Their Flavor

Live Science ^ | 26JAN17 | Laura Geggel, Senior Writer

[vannrox]

Ever wonder why most store-bought tomatoes are so tasteless? The answer (surprise, surprise) has to do with revenue: Tomato farmers care about yield, and the genetic variants associated with yield are not associated with tasty tomato flavors, a new study finds.

"Consumers complain that the modern tomato has little flavor. [It's] like a 'water bomb,'" said the study's co-principal investigator Sanwen Huang, the deputy director general at the Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

How can farmers ditch this "water bomb" and reinstate the rich, sweet flavor of the tomato? To find out, Huang and colleagues investigated which genes are associated with tomatoes' taste.

[1Old Pro]

Grow your own, at least for 2-3 months you can eat tasty tomatoes, or is it tomatos :)

[MileHi]

Only two things that money cain’t buy,
That’s true love an home growed tomaters.

[hanamizu]

The PER unit cost of picking fruit/veg is almost nothing.

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Apparently the savings were enough to justify the cost of the machines that replaced the pickers. There might also be the time factor as well—the machine might be able to work several fields in one day that the gang of workers it replaced could do in a week. The long-term trend in agriculture going back to the 19th century has been to replace lots of workers with few machines. And we end up with tomatoes that have no flavor.

[central_va]

Apparently the savings were enough to justify the cost of the machines that replaced the pickers.

Only if you like leather fruit and veggies that are tasteless. They give us no options. Tasteless, tough crappy fruit isn't cheap at any price.

[hanamizu]

leather fruit and veggies that are tasteless.

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I wonder though how much of the flavor and texture has been lost due to changes brought about by disease/pesticide resistance, etc.

And depending on the part of the country you live in, there are still small operations that produce the real deal in vegetables/fruit.

[Veto!]

You’re right, but I live in an apartment with no ground to plant in…well, there is some, but they put so many chemicals on the lawns, I can’t even grow catnip out there for His Macho Majesty . Gotta go with what Trader Joe and my local, family-owned health market provides.

And hey, Mad Dawgg, don’t forget the exercise part of the equation…get out there, go to the gym, do interval training.

[Bigg Red]

Peanut butrer and tomatoes? That ain’t right.

[Verginius Rufus]

I believe the Texas Democrat Jim Hightower published a book called Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times in the 1970s, about how tomatoes were being altered to increase corporations' profit margins, but at the expense of the quality of the tomatoes.

[Mad Dawgg]

'You’re right, but I live in an apartment with no ground to plant in…well, there is some, but they put so many chemicals on the lawns, I can’t even grow catnip out there for His Macho Majesty ."

I also live in an apartment building I have no yard whatsoever but a kind old lady I met on the internets showed me the way. I use a sytem called "grow Buckets" or "Earth Buckets" and homemade carts to move them in and out of the warehouse part of our building. (Local ordinance says I can leave stuff on sidewalk during day as long as people can walk past them easily but sidewalks must be cleared at night)

If you have a balcony or porch that is open to the sun you just need the buckets.

Here is how to make them: DIY Hydro Grow Buckets

BTW I get around 40 lbs (or more) of tomatoes per bucket and the sidewalk they are on is on the west side of the building so I don't get a full days worth of direct sunlight.

[Rannug]

Peanut butrer and tomatoes? That ain’t right.

Come one, man up and try it.

[Williams]

Very nice story.

[Zirondelle]

What variety?

[Bigg Red]

I can’t man up; I’m a woman. :)

[Rannug]

But aren’t you superior to us, the weaker sex?

[Mad Dawgg]

Heirloom beefsteak this year (the same type that are pictured) and also have some seeds from a local guy who claims they are a variety called red hearts that cannot be purchased any more. (He said the seed company catalog that he used to buy them out of quit selling them back in the 90s.) He said when he has tried to buy “red hearts “ from other seed companies they never turned out the same and looked and tasted totally different.

[Bigg Red]

This gal does not subscribe to that nonsense. I think men are great, and I believe in the traditional roles for men and women. But I am an old lady, so I guess my vote doesn’t count in most quarters.

[tubebender]

Marking...

[tubebender]

Ping the Garden List...

[painter]

I grow Heirlooms only.

Same here!

[little jeremiah]

I grew several varieties of tomatoes last year and although they did not get enough sun (we have and will cut a few more trees), they were so tasty compared to anything in the store. They were older varieites, can’t remember what though.