Posted on 04/04/2017 4:44:54 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
But, truly it is an amazing comment on what the USA, and the world has become. A tasteless and picture perfect version of what it used to be. With no flavor, and no taste. Just filled with watery bile.
The loss of the Jersey Beefsteak tomato is heart breaking. People used to say, correctly, you could eat that tomato on bread and no meat was needed in the sandwich. Absolutely delicious.
They used to raise a bunch of hydroponic ‘maters in my area.
Big, beautiful, uniformly shaped fruit.
With as much taste as bottled water.
You have to buy heirloom tomatoes or ones at the farmers market. Same with broccoli, and other vegetables. Strawberries are often dyed red at the supermarket.
Michael Taylor, former Monsanto Honcho. Look at his efforts as Asst. Sec of Agriculture.
I grow Heirlooms only.
My favorite sammich during ‘mater season...
White bread
Thick slab of ripe tomater
Miracle Whip
Lays Original Potato Chips
White Bread
Assemble ingredients, mash it down good to crunch up the chips.
Enjoy.
OR...a nice slice of Vidalia or Texas Sweet onion with yellow mustard on bread.
They're not gone, you just have to buy them from farm stands in New Jersey. Only when they're in season, of course.
GMO tomatoes, just what we need. /sarc
Heirloom tomatoes are the way to go.
I don’t eat tomatoes but I remember my mom raving about these. SHe loved ‘mater sandwiches.
Kumatos, if you can afford them. Weird looking brown tomatoes, but they taste like “real” tomatoes. Amazing that you can buy them in the store and they’re so good.
I wouldn’t know, though I live inside Cincy city limits, I still grow my own.
Look for a farmers market. You can also try growing them.
http://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/tomatoes/
http://www.seedsavers.org/category/tomato
Burpee, Jung, Territorial Seeds, etc.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Category:Tomato_Variety_List
Good hunting, good luck, good growing!
(Then distant thunder is no longer distant! Getting off the computer!)
Many really young people do not like tomatoes. I think it is that they have never had delicious home grown tomatoes.
Why is it “lost”?? You’d probably have to grow them yourself, but I would bet that seeds can be had.
Yep. My local Safeway has a contract with a local hothouse grower who raises heirlooms. It’s what tomatoes were like before there were supermarkets. They are the only tomatoes that I’ll eat.
My wife and I agree with you.
Aldi’s sometimes has them at a good price.
Last weekend I planted some tomato seeds that my wife’s friend brought back from Italy recently. Hopefully they’re flavorful and juicy. Some of the seeds are of the oblong Roma-type variety and some are the bigger round kind that I’d be tempted to call a beefsteak variety. Time will tell...
Cherokee Purples are flavorful, ugly and highly recommended.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.