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Or they can simply leave them a bit more in the sun. You know, to do what evolution tuned them to do across eons. Today: Profits >> nutrients.

surement 9y ago
>> Or they can simply leave them a bit more in the sun. This is what the whole article is about: [intro] The life of a tomato is halted tragically early. They’re wrenched from the vine in their adolescence and fledged from their natal farms when they’re still green and hard as stones. Snipped from their vines, the fruit is never allowed to ripen in the field and develop the sugars and flavor chemicals that make them taste like something other than a verdant rock. Unfortunately, for large-scale commercial farming this is the only way. Imagine shipping squishy, perfectly ripe tomatoes across the county. They’d arrive sauced. [...] If farmers could somehow allow a tomato fruit to ripen on the vine and develop flavor without going soft, everyone would be happy. Farmers get high yield, consumers get a tasty product, and tomatoes everywhere could keep a shred of their integrity. [rest of the article]
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chriskanan 9y ago
Don't forget this part of the article: “We realized that the commercial varieties being grown at the time didn’t taste that great,” says Martineau. “Even if you grew them in your backyard and let them fully ripen on the vine, they wouldn’t have had great tomato flavor.”
- quickben 9y ago
  That's not true. We grew tomatoes long time ago. Most of them had amazing taste. Even the 'commercial varieties'. The problem is that tomatoes need lots of sun and time. They are spinning that in the article, and I'm sad to see most of the commenters fall for that. Tomatoes just need time in the sun, it is that simple.
  - dsr_ 9y ago
    True. If a tomato picked from my garden on the right day is a 100, then I can buy 95s in season at a tomato farm, and routinely buy 80s at CostCo (look for packs of multicolored cherry tomatoes) and sometimes pay a lot for "vine ripened" tomatoes in special packaging at the grocery store that usually end up as 50s. A random beefsteak tomato at Whole Foods tends to be a 20 on this scale. Yes, there's worse.
  - lostapathy 9y ago
    And yet you're still missing most of the point. Commercial tomatoes aren't pulled off the vine early for fun or pure greed, it's a matter of picking them before they are too soft to survive shipment. That's not a problem with a tomato from your own back yard, but it's a big deal even if they only have to travel a few miles.
    - markdown 9y ago
      It's not just the sun. Because commercial tomatoes are largely grown hydroponically, they seem to be little more than water.
      - quickben 9y ago
        But tomatoes aren't just volume and red color. If anything, complex chemistry has to take place to saturate them with variety of stuff. It depends which camp one is in. Are they after the volume or the nutrients.

surement 9y ago

>> Or they can simply leave them a bit more in the sun. This is what the whole article is about: [intro] The life of a tomato is halted tragically early. They’re wrenched from the vine in their adolescence and fledged from their natal farms when they’re still green and hard as stones. Snipped from their vines, the fruit is never allowed to ripen in the field and develop the sugars and flavor chemicals that make them taste like something other than a verdant rock. Unfortunately, for large-scale commercial farming this is the only way. Imagine shipping squishy, perfectly ripe tomatoes across the county. They’d arrive sauced. [...] If farmers could somehow allow a tomato fruit to ripen on the vine and develop flavor without going soft, everyone would be happy. Farmers get high yield, consumers get a tasty product, and tomatoes everywhere could keep a shred of their integrity. [rest of the article]

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chriskanan 9y ago

Don't forget this part of the article: “We realized that the commercial varieties being grown at the time didn’t taste that great,” says Martineau. “Even if you grew them in your backyard and let them fully ripen on the vine, they wouldn’t have had great tomato flavor.”

quickben 9y ago
That's not true. We grew tomatoes long time ago. Most of them had amazing taste. Even the 'commercial varieties'. The problem is that tomatoes need lots of sun and time. They are spinning that in the article, and I'm sad to see most of the commenters fall for that. Tomatoes just need time in the sun, it is that simple.
- dsr_ 9y ago
  True. If a tomato picked from my garden on the right day is a 100, then I can buy 95s in season at a tomato farm, and routinely buy 80s at CostCo (look for packs of multicolored cherry tomatoes) and sometimes pay a lot for "vine ripened" tomatoes in special packaging at the grocery store that usually end up as 50s. A random beefsteak tomato at Whole Foods tends to be a 20 on this scale. Yes, there's worse.
- lostapathy 9y ago
  And yet you're still missing most of the point. Commercial tomatoes aren't pulled off the vine early for fun or pure greed, it's a matter of picking them before they are too soft to survive shipment. That's not a problem with a tomato from your own back yard, but it's a big deal even if they only have to travel a few miles.
  - markdown 9y ago
    It's not just the sun. Because commercial tomatoes are largely grown hydroponically, they seem to be little more than water.
    - quickben 9y ago
      But tomatoes aren't just volume and red color. If anything, complex chemistry has to take place to saturate them with variety of stuff. It depends which camp one is in. Are they after the volume or the nutrients.