Their colour is so misleading, because red food should be like really tangy and strong. Either sweet like a strawberry or cranberry, or savoury like ketchup. Tomatoes taste like they should be a pale green or yellow, but they're red. It's fucked up.

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[–] dead@hexbear.net 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Homegrown tomatoes do taste "really tangy and strong". Grocery store tomatoes were selectively bred to not be green around the stem because customers wrongly interpreted the green ring as unripe. In the process of selective breeding, tomatoes lost their natural flavor.

In the Southern US, there is a traditional Tomato Sandwich ( no bacon, no lettuce, no cheese), only white bread, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and a thick slice of tomato. The flavor of the tomato is very powerful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_sandwich

[–] Feinsteins_Ghost@hexbear.net 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I dont agree with this. Grocery store tomatoes are the way they are due to needing a tough skin to withstand mechanical picking processes, long storage times, exposure to ethylene gas, long transport times, etc. its not really because of a green ring around the stem of a tomato. Tomaotes dont ripen that way. Green shoulders have a well defined cause, like nutrient deficiency or wilt virus.

[–] dead@hexbear.net 7 points 1 day ago

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2012/06/researchers-identify-gene-controls-tomato-ripening

This gene also influences how tomato fruit ripen, the reason commercial tomatoes develop into perfectly red, store-ready fruit.

However, this same trait reduces sugars and nutrients in the fruit.

Naturally, tomatoes unevenly ripen, showing darker green patches when unripe and variable redness when ripe -- traits that still show up in garden-variety and heirloom breeds.

However, in the late 1920s, commercial breeders stumbled across a natural mutation that caused tomatoes to ripen uniformly -- from an even shade of light green to an even shade of red.

The uniform redness makes it ideal for groceries, where customers expect evenly colored, red fruit.

[–] ratboy@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

Organic heirloom tomato sandwiches at the height of tomato season are divine

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

When I saw the pic on the Wikipedia page - I suddenly remembered by mom used to make tomato sandwiches for me very much like those. It wasn't very often and I had entirely forgotten. The last time I had one was when I was a teenager which was a million years ago.

I'm super lazy and I get my groceries delivered and the tomatoes are utter shit. Maybe I'll make my first trip to Trader Joe's this year and get some beefsteak tomatoes or heirlooms and make some sandwiches. But don't quote me. I am super lazy. Still - mom food.