> I don’t want people to not eat a great-tasting tomato because they’re scared of it
And we also don't want anyone to claim exclusive rights on producing such tomatoes, because some moron came up with the idea to patent genes.
A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
51–60 of 159 posts
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#52If you refrigerate tomatoes, they go bland --- the cold temperatures kills some of the flavour.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/science/tomato-flavor-...
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#53Couldn't they just go overseas? I think it's only in America where produce tastes like cardboard.
> Couldn't they just go overseas? I think it's only in America where produce tastes like cardboard.
No, tomatoes taste pretty bland in many European countries too.
The Netherlands and Spain are the two top tomato-exporting countries in Europe. As you can probably guess, the sunny climes of the Netherlands aren't exactly conducive to ripe, flavourful tomatoes. But large-scale industrial tomato farming is conducive to achieving cheap prices that consumers expect at the supermarket.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#54There's a similar problem with popcorn. Showing my age card here, but back in the 1970's popcorn actually tasted like corn , which seems to be a difficult concept to explain to anyone under 40. It all went south around the same time that microwave popcorn became popular. People always ask if I don't like tomatoes when I eat around them in salads or remove from burgers. Nope, I love tomatoes, that's why I don't eat fl…
You can make popcorn in a saucepan, it's easy and fun. Gourmet popcorn (different kernels) also tastes far better even than the bulk kernels you can find in the store.
It's hilarious. I grew up in the rural midwest and I was taught to make "popped corn" on the stove in a pot with a little bit of oil by my grand mother. I love it this way, so does my wife, and I still prefer to make it this way to today. However, we had a very good friend over recently and I made popcorn for the 3 of us on the stove and she thought it was way beyond weird. She actually bought us one of those air popcorn makers for Christmas and was like, "Here, now you guys don't have to use the stove to make popcorn anymore!"
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#55There's a similar problem with popcorn. Showing my age card here, but back in the 1970's popcorn actually tasted like corn , which seems to be a difficult concept to explain to anyone under 40. It all went south around the same time that microwave popcorn became popular. People always ask if I don't like tomatoes when I eat around them in salads or remove from burgers. Nope, I love tomatoes, that's why I don't eat fl…
You can make popcorn in a saucepan, it's easy and fun. Gourmet popcorn (different kernels) also tastes far better even than the bulk kernels you can find in the store.
I grew up making popcorn like this - my mother had a special pan with a crank on top that stirred the kernels.
I now have a machine that does the same thing. I just put a bit of oil in the bottom (very little) and let it do the stuff.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to be mistaking organic for ripe nutritious food. Organic just limits some specific chemicals. That is it. You can replaces those limited chemicals with other "natural" chemicals which may be (and often are) much more harmful. Organic does not save the earth. Sometimes is does, but other times it is more harmful than the conventional practice. Organic is not more nutritious. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is…
Can you back the claim up that natural chemicals are being used and are harmful? I thought the whole point of organic is that there are no pesticides being used in the first place.
Look at the standards for organic foods. They're quite specific in forbidding synthetic pesticides, and even that has exceptions. Naturally derived pesticides, like pyrethrin, are allowed.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can make popcorn in a saucepan, it's easy and fun. Gourmet popcorn (different kernels) also tastes far better even than the bulk kernels you can find in the store.
It's hilarious. I grew up in the rural midwest and I was taught to make "popped corn" on the stove in a pot with a little bit of oil by my grand mother. I love it this way, so does my wife, and I still prefer to make it this way to today. However, we had a very good friend over recently and I made popcorn for the 3 of us on the stove and she thought it was way beyond weird. She actually bought us one of those air pop…
My parents had a pot with a top, and a crank in the handle that could be turned to stop the kernels from sticking. I suppose it's the more commercial version of what you grew up doing. It looks like they're still available for $20 or $30.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#58amazing tasting tomatoes still exist around the world, if you are on vacation in Italy in the summer buy some "cuor di bue" tomatoes at the supermarket and they will be amazing. Of course if you happen to know somebody that grows them and you can pick them off the plant they will be even more incredible, but even the "normal" supermarket ones are going to be orders of magnitude tastier than anything you can find in N…
Amazing tasting tomatoes are also very easy to grow yourself. Tomatoes are a hardy vine, and hard to mess up, you just need plenty of sunshine. There are seeds available for many heirloom varieties, and when you grow them yourself, you pick them at the peak of freshness. I particularly like the Early Girl variety. It's a bummer that you can't re-plant the seeds from most tomatoes, which are F1 hybrids, so the next ge…
This- very much this. I used to put a tomato cage in a large pot and grow them on my front porch - though I had a shorter growing season. I could put them out in Mid-to-late May. If it was the right variety, they'd keep producing until the plant was killed by frost and cold.
Soil, however, will affect your taste. I really miss good summer tomatoes from Indiana - I knew folks that moved down south and complained about the difference in taste, even when they grew them.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#59> I don’t want people to not eat a great-tasting tomato because they’re scared of it And we also don't want anyone to claim exclusive rights on producing such tomatoes, because some moron came up with the idea to patent genes.
Exactly, and there are plenty of existing varieties that taste as they should. The random colors and shapes are part of the fun.
I'd much rather have one heirloom than 4 identical red tomatoes still on a vine sold in a plastic box.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#60I like the story of the artificial banana flavour to be like the old tasteful bananas there where. I guess it's not true, but the story of the banana is simmilar to the fate of the tomato, if not worse, because banas have no seeds, are all clones and the old kind of banana got mostly wiped by some fungi.
And there is a new breed of the same fungus that is attacking the modern banana - the Cavendish - and as of yet, there is no replacement banana that we can substitute if the Cavendish gets wiped out.
There are loads of awesome bananas out there, they just either aren't so soft and sweet or don't ship well.
Within the last year I have had lady-finger, apple and Fe'i bananas and various plantains. All delicious!
I want to try red and blue/ice-cream but am having trouble finding them in the UK or on my travels...