4 ms·

If the chemistry is perfect, why are store bought and fast food tomatoes so bland, for instance? I haven't been scientific about comparing them but the differen

If the chemistry is perfect, why are store bought and fast food tomatoes so bland, for instance? I haven't been scientific about comparing them but the difference in flavor in garden grown tomatoes seems pretty pronounced.

yetihehe 5y ago
Because they are different tomatoes, selected for long storage on shelves in shop, not for taste. Your garden tomato will be much tastier, but will start to spoil sooner.
- scarby2 5y ago
  Interestingly enough consumers drove the market for tasteless tomatoes. customers bought more tomatoes that were more brightly colored and more round, which drove selection for these characteristics
  - yetihehe 5y ago
    Hmm, maybe because they can't select for taste? If it was possible to get sample of tomatoes or other vegetables before buying, maybe things would change?
  - ajnin 5y ago
    Producers want to sell more, therefore they select varieties that look pretty, that are uniform in color and shape, they will also select varieties that keep for a long time for transport, or that grow bigger and ripen faster for better yields, being measured only by weight. Lots of factors but none related to taste or nutritional value. The consumer has very little say in all this.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  Nope. I've seen many times seeds from letfover of tasteless salads grow into delicous plants after being just throw away in a fertile garden. And honestly I met so many farmers that have no idea what tomatoes should taste like it's not even funny. Dining at their table, I hear them rejoice the produce in their plate is so good while I cringe because they feels like clown noses compared to the real thing. Just like people can't fathom that we used to have bird migrations that cover the entire sky, people don't realize what we have lost with food. And they think they do, they think you are some kind of bragging posh to tell them that that's not supposed to be like this. But I ate strawberries from my mother in law garden yesterday. It felt like eating sweets. I haven't eaten some like that for 20 years, and I'm a very picky buyer. Her soil is full of life. Fruits and vegetable have been selected for being awesome for centuries. If you treat them well, you will not want to eat a kit kat instead. But I don't blame the kids that do: currently, the kit kat tastes way better that whatever they have for lunch.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    The tomato thing is no mystery - superparkets sell tomatoes taken off the vine weeks before they a ripe, because a ripe tomato is very gentle and will not survive handling. And the message you are replying to is correct, supermarket tomatoes are different variety, farmers get paid for mass, not for taste. Supermarkets have giant charts that determine shape, roundness, and colour of tomato. They will buy perfectly round, red tomato that tastes like water. They will not buy an ugly but tasty tomato from a farmer.
cperciva 5y ago
Are they the same varieties? Vegetables grown to be sold in stores are selected largely fit their shelf lives, to minimize the loss during the lengthy distribution and sale process. Your garden grown tomatoes are probably a different variety... and almost certainly much fresher.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  No, 2 years ago I ate amazing cherry tomatoes from a friend garden. He told me he didn't plant them, they came out themself out of the shitty store bought ones that he discarded one day. The variety matters, but that's not the end of the story.
  - PeterisP 5y ago
    The other issue with many plants is that they're picked before they're ripe - if you'd eat it straight away, you'd wait longer before picking and it would be tastier, but as you want them to survive transportation and long waiting in store shelves, you're picking them long before they're fully ripe.
    - BiteCode_dev 5y ago
      Of course, it's a collection of things, but it's not true for tomatoes in can, which you can put in right after the harvest. And my ex house mate cans from the garden would always feels like fruit juice while the supermarket one, well...
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    Tomatoes can crossbreed, so the seeds of one plant are not necessarily the same variety as the parent.
cameronh90 5y ago
The tomatoes you find in a shop have been picked before they are ripe so that they ripen during transport. This improves yields and reduces spoilage and bruising. However, it results in a tomato that - while it looks like a normal tomato - the sugars and other flavours don't develop in the same way, rendering it bland. If you want to buy tomatoes that taste good, you can get them from a farmers market and they will taste a lot better - even if grown in the same soil with the same techniques as the supermarket tomatoes. Alternatively canned/frozen/preserved tomatoes tend to be made with naturally ripened tomatoes. Obviously you can't really used those tomatoes the same way you'd use a raw tomato, though. This isn't specific to tomatoes, many commercial fruits and veggies are picked before they're ripe.

yetihehe 5y ago

Because they are different tomatoes, selected for long storage on shelves in shop, not for taste. Your garden tomato will be much tastier, but will start to spoil sooner.

scarby2 5y ago
Interestingly enough consumers drove the market for tasteless tomatoes. customers bought more tomatoes that were more brightly colored and more round, which drove selection for these characteristics
- yetihehe 5y ago
  Hmm, maybe because they can't select for taste? If it was possible to get sample of tomatoes or other vegetables before buying, maybe things would change?
- ajnin 5y ago
  Producers want to sell more, therefore they select varieties that look pretty, that are uniform in color and shape, they will also select varieties that keep for a long time for transport, or that grow bigger and ripen faster for better yields, being measured only by weight. Lots of factors but none related to taste or nutritional value. The consumer has very little say in all this.
BiteCode_dev 5y ago
Nope. I've seen many times seeds from letfover of tasteless salads grow into delicous plants after being just throw away in a fertile garden. And honestly I met so many farmers that have no idea what tomatoes should taste like it's not even funny. Dining at their table, I hear them rejoice the produce in their plate is so good while I cringe because they feels like clown noses compared to the real thing. Just like people can't fathom that we used to have bird migrations that cover the entire sky, people don't realize what we have lost with food. And they think they do, they think you are some kind of bragging posh to tell them that that's not supposed to be like this. But I ate strawberries from my mother in law garden yesterday. It felt like eating sweets. I haven't eaten some like that for 20 years, and I'm a very picky buyer. Her soil is full of life. Fruits and vegetable have been selected for being awesome for centuries. If you treat them well, you will not want to eat a kit kat instead. But I don't blame the kids that do: currently, the kit kat tastes way better that whatever they have for lunch.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  The tomato thing is no mystery - superparkets sell tomatoes taken off the vine weeks before they a ripe, because a ripe tomato is very gentle and will not survive handling. And the message you are replying to is correct, supermarket tomatoes are different variety, farmers get paid for mass, not for taste. Supermarkets have giant charts that determine shape, roundness, and colour of tomato. They will buy perfectly round, red tomato that tastes like water. They will not buy an ugly but tasty tomato from a farmer.

cperciva 5y ago

Are they the same varieties? Vegetables grown to be sold in stores are selected largely fit their shelf lives, to minimize the loss during the lengthy distribution and sale process. Your garden grown tomatoes are probably a different variety... and almost certainly much fresher.

BiteCode_dev 5y ago
No, 2 years ago I ate amazing cherry tomatoes from a friend garden. He told me he didn't plant them, they came out themself out of the shitty store bought ones that he discarded one day. The variety matters, but that's not the end of the story.
- PeterisP 5y ago
  The other issue with many plants is that they're picked before they're ripe - if you'd eat it straight away, you'd wait longer before picking and it would be tastier, but as you want them to survive transportation and long waiting in store shelves, you're picking them long before they're fully ripe.
  - BiteCode_dev 5y ago
    Of course, it's a collection of things, but it's not true for tomatoes in can, which you can put in right after the harvest. And my ex house mate cans from the garden would always feels like fruit juice while the supermarket one, well...
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  Tomatoes can crossbreed, so the seeds of one plant are not necessarily the same variety as the parent.

cameronh90 5y ago

The tomatoes you find in a shop have been picked before they are ripe so that they ripen during transport. This improves yields and reduces spoilage and bruising. However, it results in a tomato that - while it looks like a normal tomato - the sugars and other flavours don't develop in the same way, rendering it bland. If you want to buy tomatoes that taste good, you can get them from a farmers market and they will taste a lot better - even if grown in the same soil with the same techniques as the supermarket tomatoes. Alternatively canned/frozen/preserved tomatoes tend to be made with naturally ripened tomatoes. Obviously you can't really used those tomatoes the same way you'd use a raw tomato, though. This isn't specific to tomatoes, many commercial fruits and veggies are picked before they're ripe.