Free Republic

Ordering a sandwich for lunch today? How about some lettuce and a slice of cardboard with that? Cardboard. That's how customers describe the taste of winter tomatoes to produce-man Joe Procacci. Looking to improve off-season flavor, Mr. Procacci developed a tomato called the UglyRipe. It's exactly what its name implies. Scarred by crevices, it's not much to look at, but its growers advertise it as "exceptional" in taste. Customers apparently agree. Procacci initially saw sales of his Florida-grown tomatoes triple - until the Florida Tomato Committee put the kibosh on the UglyRipe last year because it doesn't meet the committee's...