why are homee grown tomatoes infinitely better than store bought?

Can't really say that about any other fruit or vegetable. But tomatoes are so much more flavorful home grown then store bought. Not sure why that is.

LoneWolfSparty wrote:Can't really say that about any other fruit or vegetable. But tomatoes are so much more flavorful home grown then store bought. Not sure why that is.

I don't know, but same w/blueberries and raspberries.

shout out to my homee's..

Same with green peppers.

Because they're actually ripe when you eat them.

As with most American foods, it's because you've allowed big agriculture to prioritize uniformity and artificial color over taste and aroma - for some reason you prefer supermarkets that look more like the Disney store than a market. Go to any other country and you'll find shelves full of different tomato varieties that might not look as pretty, but they also don't taste like cardboard.

If you want to do it properly, start plants from heirloom seeds in early spring in the basement - my friend Tomato Bob is great place to get them:

http://www.tomatobob.com/

LoneWolfSparty wrote:Can't really say that about any other fruit or vegetable. But tomatoes are so much more flavorful home grown then store bought. Not sure why that is.

Even if you don't garden, do yourself a favor and at least learn how to grow tomatoes. Like you say, the difference is night and day. Grow yourself some plum/ Roma tomatoes. The sauces you can make with your own ripe, hand-picked tomatoes are out of this world.

In addition to different cultivars, tomatoes at the store are actually treated with a ripening gas called ethylene to become more ripe. They're actually picked green so they don't bruise during transport. The ones you pick at home are vine-ripened, allowing for more development of the flavor compounds in the fruit.

Lots of fruits at the store are actually picked unripe, like peaches and berries, which is why the stuff at farmer's markets or from your garden tastes better, because it wasn't picked in order to ship will.

I'm an MSU horticulture grad and actually worked in a postharvest lab at Washington State University, and there's actually a class at MSU on postharvest biology/physiology of fruits and vegetables. You learn a lot of neat stuff about how crops get to the store from the field/orchard.

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit

Cym Jim wrote:As with most American foods, it's because you've allowed big agriculture to prioritize uniformity and artificial color over taste and aroma - for some reason you prefer supermarkets that look more like the Disney store than a market. Go to any other country and you'll find shelves full of different tomato varieties that might not look as pretty, but they also don't taste like cardboard.

http://www.tomatobob.com/

one of the things I enjoy the most about international travel is the consistent availability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables - both common varieties and the unique ones..

on the upside, though, 9 year old girls here get to kill people with Uzi's.. you can't say that about Portobello Road in west London.

Stugots wrote:Because they're actually ripe when you eat them.

Ding ding! Industrially grown fruits are almost always harvested before they're ripe.

Is this like the man cave thread? Having a hard time telling.

Thanks for the responses. I'll be diving into my third home grown tomato today after reading this thread.

I buy tomatoes by the truckload. Most of what you get at fast food is the gas green or nature green tomato. Retailers use a lot of hot house. the bigger issues are that consumers just don't care, so retailers will try to profit off produce, dairy and meat. During the winter I'm pretty sure most of the tomatoes are from Mexico. So don't link a book by some guy who knows very little of how things work, while ignoring all the sit that happens in Mexico.I'm on mobile right now, so I'm not going as in depth as I might at a computer.

I looked at a couple produce sections in a smaller store and in a Meijer, both places had very little US grown tomatoes, not saying there wasn't any, but a lot of it was from Canada. That makes sense since a lot of it was also hot house and Leamington is right next door. The grape tomatoes looked a little more local, but they could be repacked at a larger place and slapped with a sticker to make it look that way. 

Anyway, enjoy the home grown tomatoes that you have. Cym Jim nailed it though, retailers want everything to look perfect and don't care about taste that much. US consumers buy with their eyes.

Because home-grown tomatoes are made with love. Duh.

Stugots wrote:Because they're actually ripe when you eat them.

This. Most vegetables/produce you buy at the store are picked early and ripe on the shelves or in transit.

You are getting a better product when plant has the opportunity to ripen on the bush, vine, tree or whatever.

steveschneider wrote:

This. Most vegetables/produce you buy at the store are picked early and ripe on the shelves or in transit.

You are getting a better product when plant has the opportunity to ripen on the bush, vine, tree or whatever.

They should just ship entire potted plant then. I would pay more for that.

LoneWolfSparty wrote:

They should just ship entire potted plant then. I would pay more for that.

Complain to the store managers. Look, retailers are going to shove whatever they can down the consumers throat, because they want to control the process. Consumers willingly go along because they don't think they have a choice, but they do. No one pays attention to who packs the meat, veg or dairy. Retailers need to keep the public stupid about those things because the rest of the store they run on razor thin margins. Right now, wholesale tomatoes from farms in MI are selling for about .40 cents a pound. Add in repacking and freight and maybe they are hitting the stores at .80 cents or a little more, but no more than $1. I saw prices as high as $1.99 a pound. 

Look at the berries section and I'll bet it is most likely either Driscoll or Well-Pict, but no one pays attention to that. The cherries I saw were from Nature Sweet, which has about 80% market on one item. I don't know what any of that really means, but there isn't much variety and now everyone is kind of stuck with 1 or 2 companies who control the markets.

LoneWolfSparty wrote:

They should just ship entire potted plant then. I would pay more for that.

You can get close to that, and it's very simple. Buy local from a food co-op, or go to a farmers market.

steveschneider wrote:LoneWolfSparty wrote:“They should just ship entire potted plant then. I would pay more for that.”You can get close to that, and it's very simple. Buy local from a food co-op, or go to a farmers market.

I do, but that is all seasonal too, just like growing my own.

I was blessed with some home grown tomatoes from a gentleman in his 70's. I am pretty sure the tomatoes came from seed stock that goes further back than this guy! I have bacon, I have lettuce, I have mayo and I have some pretty good bread from the bakery.

Lunch is going to be an oral orgasm.

Americans are inherently swine-like in intelligence and appetite.

Big Ten Referee wrote:Americans are inherently swine-like in intelligence and appetite.

Spot on.

Cym Jim wrote:Big Ten Referee wrote:“Americans are inherently swine-like in intelligence and appetite. ”Spot on.

Our teeth are still nicer than yours.