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I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

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Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#121

Post by leoedin »

noiwillnot wrote: post #118
tdrdt wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dutch fact about tomatoes: almost all tomatoes from the Netherlands are grown in greenhouses and most are grown on rockwhool. Computer systems fertilize water that flows through the rockwhool. The seedlings are grown in labs and then sold to the greenhouses. And while it is not really organic food, most greenhouses don't use chemicals to keep pests and diseases out. A lot of times different kind if insects are used f…

Are there good Dutch tomatoes out there? I associated them with the worst tasting produce and avoid them like the plague.

Some of them best tomatoes I've ever had came (in winter!) from Thanet Earth, a massive indoor grow op in Kent, England. They grow all year under massive grow lights.

I think a lot of the really good flavours in tomatoes are a function of sunlight exposure.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#122

Post by tpaulin »

noiwillnot wrote: post #118
tdrdt wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dutch fact about tomatoes: almost all tomatoes from the Netherlands are grown in greenhouses and most are grown on rockwhool. Computer systems fertilize water that flows through the rockwhool. The seedlings are grown in labs and then sold to the greenhouses. And while it is not really organic food, most greenhouses don't use chemicals to keep pests and diseases out. A lot of times different kind if insects are used f…

Are there good Dutch tomatoes out there? I associated them with the worst tasting produce and avoid them like the plague.

I've yet to find any. I agree with tdrdt that they all taste watery, so much so that I'd aim to avoid Dutch tomatoes whilst living there.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#123

Post by Factorium »

xenocyon wrote: post #93
Factorium wrote: post #56

Tomatoes "have no significant nutrient content" according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Nutrition And are 95% water. They just taste great due to the umami flavour. Is there any way to grow nutritious food that isn't just transporting water everywhere? https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/Water/Veg... I guess this is the end result of selecting for 'yield' which is basically just we…

For one thing, your own source shows that tomatoes are a rich source of many different vitamins, minerals, and fiber. But furthermore, this treatment of nutrition is a little reductive. You could eat highly processed food that is formulated to deliver the desired daily value of major nutrients, yet it would fail to deliver the same benefits as a simple diet of fruit, vegetables, small fatty fish, and nuts - even if t…

My take is that it makes sense to grow the water-heavy vegetables yourself. These vegetables seem to be the most prone to damage during transport anyway. Plus, you can select heirloom varieties.

Then just get your staples (grains, potatoes, dairy products), plus fruits which require specialised agriculture, via the commercial food system.

If I had a house, instead of an apartment, I'd test the soil and then replace most of the backyard plants with good-looking and low-maintenance food producers; and replace the front lawn with pollinator-attracting xeriscape and maybe some herbs.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#124

Post by atombender »

hnzix wrote: post #62
atombender wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supposedly because they contain glycoalkaloids. I'm not sure who invented the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), but it seems to have the same scientifically questionable origins as Leaky Gut Syndrome. I have yet to see any scientific evidence supporting AIP. There's one study hypothesizing that glycoalkaloids can increase/aggravate intestinal permeability (which is a real thing), but this study only looked at mice [1]. The…

> I have yet to see any scientific evidence supporting AIP. The food elimination diet is very scientific - you add items back in one at a time to test if they cause a negative reaction to your particular physiology.

Elimination diet, sure. I meant evidence that the specific foods listed in AIP are inflammatory. I'm not contesting that it works.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#125

Post by hardwaregeek »

dustintrex wrote: post #112
hardwaregeek wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When in doubt, ferment them! Turnips and radishes both ferment really well. Just make a 2% brine, i.e. weigh the turnips and the water used to cover them, then add 2% of that weight in salt. Put in a clean jar or even a plastic container and check every day. I add some garlic, chili peppers, etc.

I think you meant "pickle"?

Well I'm pickling them by fermenting! You can pickle with vinegar too.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#126

Post by jelliclesfarm »

opinion-is-bad wrote: post #84
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not that much of a loss for them. If you are growing for someone like morning star, they have tightened the supply chain so well that every step is precisely executed. The reason they are open topped is because they go straight to processing and get washed and graded and processed even before they are weighed. It’s beautiful how the system has been designed. Closing the tops is probably saving less than a few pe…

Chris Rufer may run a tight operation but I have nothing nice to say about him as a person, especially how he communicates with his growers. I’ll leave it at that.

sorry to hear that. i don't contract grow. it's what i hear from others about how morning star is run re: systems.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#127

Post by jelliclesfarm »

girvo wrote: post #106
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having said that…if we want to talk about addictive alkaloids in our food.. Vanillin, Cocaine and Capsaicin are closely related alkaloids and all have addiction potential.

> Vanillin, Cocaine and Capsaicin are closely related alkaloids Based on which metric? Neither vanillin nor capsaicin are tropane alkaloids.

Addictive properties in a behavioral sense are defined differently from chemical dependency. Physiological and psychoactive aspects of neural stimulation are similar among these alkaloids.

Tropane structure of cocaine, scopolamine make them accumulate in liver whereas vanillin, capsaicin etc do not accumulate.

Scopolamine stramonium etc are fascinating too. Datura stramonium (DS) is a widespread annual plant, containing atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, which can produce poisoning with a severe anticholinergic syndrome. In some parts of the world, ingestion of the roots, seeds or the entire plant is a trick to obtain its hallucinogenic and euphoric effects.

Also was used to poison royalty and by dacoits. It also has medicinal properties. Has been recorded in medical textbooks at the time of Takshila university and in Buddhists texts. Very effective as homeopathic preparations. Jimson weed is still a common weed on road sides in America. Datura is in the same family of plants as peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants and it contains a lethal set of alkaloids. But they don’t have the same kind. Tomatoes, for example, doesn’t have any alkaloids. Only tomatine.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#128

Post by RickyMoggels »

grenoire wrote: post #119
tdrdt wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dutch fact about tomatoes: almost all tomatoes from the Netherlands are grown in greenhouses and most are grown on rockwhool. Computer systems fertilize water that flows through the rockwhool. The seedlings are grown in labs and then sold to the greenhouses. And while it is not really organic food, most greenhouses don't use chemicals to keep pests and diseases out. A lot of times different kind if insects are used f…

I think the taste is not necessarily a hydroponics issue, but moreso a market issue. Dutchies choose unblemished pristine tomatoes, these strains are just watery by default. I can't even find heirloom tomatoes around here.

The taste of vine ripened tomatoes is incomparable to the 'industrial' tomatoes that are picked when they are still green. They are picked green so that they are firmer for transport and they ripe just enough to be red in the store. Let the same tomatoes ripen on the vine and they are truly amazing. I've grown my own tomatoes, same F1 Hybrid strains as the commercial growers use. There is a world of difference in taste.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#129

Post by aweiland »

opinion-is-bad wrote: post #28

Interesting, but not that dissimilar to the United States. I grow a couple thousand acres of tomatoes in California, all of which are for processing into juices and pastes. These tomatoes are all transported in open-topped trailers by semi, and the losses have always bothered me. There is a tight turn just after leaving our property and the pile of tomatoes there grows steadily with the season as they roll off the to…

New research has shown that winter cover cropping with hairy vetch will suppress fusarium.

Re: I’ve been reading a whole lot about tomatoes

#130

Post by treeman79 »

tmnvix wrote: post #94
treeman79 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I ended up doing. Ate nothing but sweet potatoes for a month. It was the only food I was sure didn’t cause a problem. Most boring month ever. Felt amazing at the end of it. Was shocking when I introduced things back in.

I've just finished a five day water fast and plan to limit my diet, introducing new types of food slowly while observing any undesirable effects. Would you mind sharing some of the foods which you found most surprising or troublesome?

Basically what is safe on AIP worked for me. Everything else is bad.

Chocolate and “diet” drinks turned out to be massive migraine triggers for me. That was a big surprise

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