Scientists figure out why grocery store tomatoes suck

[alexa]

Have you ever eaten a perfectly ripe tomato and wondered why you even bother? Tomatoes are a staple in sandwiches and salads and you can throw them into just about any dish and come up with something edible. Tomato flavor, however, has apparently been going downhill for a while now, and scientists think they know why.
In a new study published in Nature Genetics, researchers including those from the Agricultural Research Service and the Boyce Thompson Institute have mapped the genome of the modern cultivated tomato as well as tomatoes that still grow in the wild. The team marked thousands of genes that were previously unknown, comparing the genomes of cultivated tomatoes with their wild relatives, and made more than a few interesting discoveries.
In comparing the cultivated tomatoes to their wild counterparts, the researchers noted literally thousands of genes that were missing from the produce we typically find in our supermarkets. In the never-ending quest to develop plants that produce bigger tomatoes at a faster rate, growers seem to have inadvertently favored plants that also produce inferior-tasting fruit.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/15/scient...tomatoes-suck/

[Just AnotherPerson]

And not to mention they pick them green and then gas them to turn them red, ick!

[Collateral Damage]

There are any number of people who will tell you 'but the are just as healthy and nutritious as any tomato you can grow', which IMO, is about as deep a cow pie as you're going to get.

They are rushed through the development process with fertilizers geared for production, picked early, gassed as JAP noted, shipped either across the border or from across the country, and someone actually had to question why they weren't as good as 'wild grown'?

My home grown will beat out any store bought, and two counties over is well known for their tomatoes....

[jimmyz]

I can give an anecdotal yup to the OP. My neighbor's organic homegrown variety was a wake-up for me as to how a good tomato raised properly is supposed to taste. Unfortunately, I only have the pleasure of eating one at his annual BBQ mixer. I felt the acid/sweetness balance was on point giving the fruit a vibrancy. Instead of the bland grocery store stuff it stood out in his home garden salad. I think I had three helpings and I'm not really a salad guy. This is at my mountain home at 6800 feet above sea level. I wonder if the soil and mountain climate had anything to do with the great produce?

I asked him this year if he could do a row of Roma tomatoes. My favorite variety. I offered to do the spaghetti feed if he grew them.

[hanger4]

And not to mention they pick them green and then gas them to turn them red, ick!

Do you only eat tomatoes off the vine during it's ripening season ??

[jigglepete]

Well, since all of the sugars, oils, etc. Are produced in the last couple of weeks before harvest, this makes sense.

[jigglepete]

Although these scientists are acouple few decades late...still, better late than never!