<p>I just read a review of Barry Estabrook’s new book, ‘Tomatoland,’ about the horrible state of agriculture and produce in the U.S. We’ve all heard complaints about how bland supermarket tomatoes are these days. If you’ve read the book, what’s your perspective? I generally buy fewer tomatoes when they are not in season, because of poor quality. Unfortunately, even in season I’m often dissapointed, until I get to a farm stand or a friend’s backyard garden.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the book. Why ARE most supermarket tomatoes so bland?</p>
<p>I usually spend too much money and buy those expensive ones that are still on the vine.</p>
<p>The only place to buy real tomatoes is within 100 miles of the Campbell’s soup plant in NJ. They need a warm and humid place to grow. Real NJ garden tomatoes are legendary.</p>
<p>^^^
Legendary indeed. I lived in NJ for 4 years and it’s one of the few things I miss.</p>
<p>If I can’t get seasonal tomatoes from the farm near me I will only by the Campari tomatoes in the supermarket.</p>
<p>I hate supermarket tomatoes, even when they sell vine ones, I feel like they don’t have the real tomatoey flavor. I find them easy to grow and I freeze the extras for stews and chilis. I can’t compare mine to NJ’s as I have never had any NJ tomatoes but we do have heat and humidity here!</p>
<p>I heard the guy interviewed. I don’t know if I’ll ever buy another supermarket tomato again. They are picked green, they have 30% fewer nutrients (both from being picked to soon and because they’ve been bred to be hardy not healthy). They are basically picked by slave labor - they only get paid for what they pick. So if you complain they have you pick further from the delivery point. If it’s too damp, no picking. </p>
<p>In the summer I grow my own tomatoes and buy them from the local farmers market - mostly paying through the nose ($4 a pound) for yummy heirlooms.</p>
<p>Jersey tomatoes- if you can get them picked ripe, IMO, they beat any heirloom. </p>
<p>I’ve driven through the CA central coast growing region (know a farm family there) - acres and acres of the labels I recognize in my own east coast markets. I’ve flown over the inland route to SF, where it felt like 20 minutes passed and the view was still farmlands. From land or air, it’s pretty amazing. But, I also drove to my shiny office building in S. CA, past the workers bent over strawberry fields all day. Sobering.
Anyone see the Atlantic article about Cesar Chavez and the legacy of the United Farm Workers?</p>
<p>I agree that the “vine on” tomatoes are a bit disappointing. They look like they should be bursting with flavor, and they aren’t. I rarely buy supermarket tomatoes but I find that the tiny ones have better flavor than the larger ones. I wait until summer and grow my own or buy at a farmer’s market. Tomatoes every day now! I will happily wallow in fresh tomatoes (and peppers and peaches) until October or so.</p>
<p>NJ growers have benefitted from all the bad press about the poor quality of Florida (and Mexico, too) tomatoes. This time of year the NJ varieties always command a price premium over the “imported” tomatoes.</p>
<p>One of my great aspirations is to visit San Marzano, Italy to taste their famous tomatoes. Even the ones in the can are flavorful, so the real McCoy on the vine must be delicious.</p>
<p>[The</a> Madness of Cesar Chavez - Magazine - The Atlantic](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-madness-of-cesar-chavez/8557/]The”>The Madness of Cesar Chavez - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>I don’t think high humidity is necessary or even desired. I got great tasting tomatoes in Israel, then had a real shock moving to California (near a tomato processing plant) with the tasteless product.</p>
<p>You can still get great tomatoes in Romania, where I am now, but they are under threat from EU regulations which make them more and more uniform.</p>
<p>I think what you need is fresh picked farm produce, from traditional varieties, without growth being pushed by a lot of fertilizer. The growth rate and yield may be lower, but the taste is much better.</p>
<p>No talk of GMOs? Have they been outlawed for tomatoes?</p>
<p>A kibbutz in Israel is one of the leading makers of irrigation systems. It could be why the tomatoes taste better.</p>
<p>What did they say about cantaloupes? </p>
<p>The ones in the store don’t even smell like cantaloupes and they are hard as a rock (until they become too mushy to eat, all in an instant). I have been buying Tuscan cantaloupe–they remind me of the cantaloupe of my youth in smell and taste. But they are pretty expensive in our area.</p>
<p>I’ve stopped buying regular tomatoes. I only buy the grape variety, and am usually pretty happy with the flavor/texture. They don’t look quite right sliced up on a hamburger though. But aside from looking odd, they do taste better.</p>
<p>Of course even the quality of home-grown tomatoes can vary. All of the seedlings we put in the ground in April [better boy, big boy and cherry] gave us a decent yield, but the taste was remarkably uninspiring. Can’t say it was poor quality soil because the golden zucchini, lebanese zucchini, okra and kobacha squash grew like gangbusters and have great flavor.</p>
<p>We are getting good yeild and great tasting tomatoes her in So Cal. Especially Heirloom Mr Stripey and Heirloom Purple Cherokees. Gotta go fry up some bacon and make BLT # 598.</p>
<p>Just for fun- about getting the taste. And tasting the NJ product.
Note the comments about salt water.</p>
<p><a href=“http://njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/documents/CanSoilFertilityImproveTomatoFlavor.pdf[/url]”>http://njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/documents/CanSoilFertilityImproveTomatoFlavor.pdf</a></p>
<p>[Rediscovering the Jersey Tomato: Jersey Fresh Information Exchange from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station](<a href=“http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/JerseyTomato.html”>http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/JerseyTomato.html</a>)</p>
<p>MM, the Purple Cherokee seeds I planted last year sprouted, grew about three inches, and then died. Talk about dying on the vine!!! Of course last year I had a container garden. This year I planted seeds in good old terra firma. But as I said the tomato yield had mediocre flavor.</p>
<p>I’m fortunate enough to be near Cal Poly Pomona where the Ag Dept has a store selling tomato (and other) plants that thrive locally. I even took a soil sample and they gave me plants that would grow lovely tasting tomatoes in my back yard. I do know that over watering can affect the flavor negatively.( as well as the yield)</p>
<p>I’ve given up on tomatoes that are out of season, even the expensive ones that look like they’d be wonderful. I usually grow my own heirloom tomatoes, but I’ve had trouble with tomato hornworms and blight. This year, I didn’t plant any. I have an organic farm stand not too far from my house. Near the end of the season, they’ll sell large quantities of tomatoes for canning. I’ve canned tomatoes in the past and will do it again this year. I usually use the canned tomatoes for soups.</p>