Why Some Tomatoes Taste Bad, & Why Ours Don't

Richard Ha writes:

We select our tomato varieties specifically for taste, and once we find a variety that tastes delicious, then we look at its other characteristics. For instance, we do not grow white varieties, because we have not found one that tastes good.

Once we find a variety we like, we control salinity and water volume to enhance its taste even more. 

It is interesting to read what has happened to tomato taste over the years.

From UPI:

Tomato color comes at expense of taste

Published: June 29, 2012

WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- The reason bright, uniformly red tomatoes in supermarkets lack the flavor to match their intense color is genetics, U.S. plant researchers say.

A gene mutation that makes a tomato uniformly red, favored by farmers as it produces a visually attractive product, stifles genes that would contribute to its taste, scientists said.

The chance mutation discovered by tomato breeders has been deliberately bred into almost all tomatoes for the color it provides.

Researchers writing in the journal Science report the gene that was inactivated by that mutation -- resulting in a brighter uniform color -- plays an important role in producing the sugar and aromas that are central to a flavorful tomato. Read the rest

And here's another interesting article on the same subject from NPR:

How The Taste Of Tomatoes Went Bad (And Kept On Going)

June 28, 2012

by DAN CHARLES

Notice how some of these tomatoes have unripe-looking tops? Those "green shoulders" are actually the keys to flavor.

The tomato is the vegetable (or fruit, if you must) that we love to hate. We know how good it can be and how bad it usually is. And everybody just wants to know: How did it get that way?

Today, scientists revealed a small but intriguing chapter in that story: a genetic mutation that seemed like a real improvement in the tomato's quality, but which actually undermined its taste. Read the rest

We are great fans of heirloom tomatoes. They taste great. I like them simply sliced and chilled with sea salt - sometimes with mozzarella cheese.

June and I loved to go to the Carmel Tomato festival, where we once had the chance to evaluate 200 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. 

Comments

[Sonia]

I can say in all honesty that the tomatoes y'all grow taste like REAL tomatoes and not at all like the pale plastic 'imitations' that get shipped from mainland...

[richard ha]

Thanks Sonia. We work hard at it.
Aloha

[Michael]

Very nice article, in our ag class it was really interesting comparing the outside grown tomatoes to the hydroponic inside, as well with lettuce. I love my Brandywine tomatoes.
So Richard I am Mahi'ai, and very interested in the evolution of Agriculture. Do you grow Kalo? Will Geothermal help Malama Haloa? That is my passion, even with this geothermal fiasco, farmer at heart, would love to have conversation about kalo sometime with you