Rex Trulove
People who have eaten tomatoes right off the vine quite often will remark how much better they taste than store-bought tomatoes. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is one that makes a great deal of sense when you give it some thought. It is also something that we can all learn from, to keep from making matters worse. There is a major reason that store-bought tomatoes lack flavor.
The secondary reason should be mentioned first because it is the one that many people are aware of. When tomatoes are picked for shipment to stores, they are often picked when they are underripe or green. The tomato fruits never have the chance to fully develop in flavor or sugar content.
This is definitely a secondary reason, though. Even green tomatoes picked right out of the garden taste better than green tomatoes from the store, so there is more to it than just when they are picked.
Believe it or not, where and how they are grown isn’t even of prime importance. Most of the time, it is nearly impossible to tell a ripe tomato right off the vine in a commercial farm and one right off the vine right out of the garden.
What is the number one reason store-bought tomatoes lack flavor, as compared to those that are freshly picked from the garden? This may come as a surprise to a lot of people, but the biggest reason for the lack of flavor is the storage temperature.
When tomatoes are packed and shipped to stores, they are normally shipped refrigerated. Normally, the refrigeration temperatures are a bit above freezing; around 35-36 F. and almost always below 40 F. When they arrive at the store, they are usually stored at about the same temperature before they are put out for sale.
Tomatoes are soft, semi-tropical fruits. The cell walls begin to break down at temperatures of about 40 F. Additionally, at that temperature, the sugars in tomatoes begin to rapidly convert into starch. The starch isn’t as flavorful as sugar, of course, and it leads to a blander tasting and mushier tomato.
There isn’t much we can do about the methods used to ship and store tomatoes from commercial farmers to the store. However, home gardeners can be aware that tomato fruits should never be refrigerated. In fact, even people who don’t grow their own should stop putting store-bought tomatoes in the refrigerator. The longer they are refrigerated, the more flavor they lose. Yes, putting them on the counter means that the tomatoes need to be used more rapidly or canned for later use, but that is preferable to putting them in the fridge and turning them into round, red, cardboard-flavored fruits.
Incidentally, all bets are off once the fresh tomato has been cooked and canned. The cell walls are broken during cooking and whether canned or frozen, the process of turning sugar into starch is stopped.
The point is that if you want your tomatoes to taste as good as they can taste, don’t refrigerate them. It is appropriate to keep them at around 50 F for storage if possible, but it is better to keep them on the countertop at room temperature until use than it is to refrigerate them at temperatures of 40 F or below.
Excellent article, Rex. For some reason I don’t have much of a sense of taste. Other than texture, I be hard put to tell the difference between a hamburger and prime rib. For some reason, though, I can taste the difference between store-bought and off-the-vine tomatoes.
It’s possible that it is because of the combination of sweetness and tartness. Tomatoes taste both sweet and tart. Store-bought tomatoes tend not to taste as sweet because when they are shipped and stored and low temperatures, sugar converts to starch in the tomatoes. Hamburger and prime rib are seldom either sweet or tart. LOL
I am one who can’t eat tomatoes raw, but sun dried I can so I can have tomato sauce and tomato soup. There are many people like me, who just have never been able to eat them.
However, I do grow my own as my husband eats them and I give them away.
Fresh is always best and always nicer to grow your own
I’m sorry that you can’t eat them. I love fresh tomatoes, especially right out of the garden, and will often make a tomato sandwich, tomato salad (just tomatoes), or BLT. (Okay, so I love bacon, too. lol)
I grow other stuff in the garden and enjoy those. Always something a person is allergic to but there are compensations.
That is quite true, Pamela.
Amazing
Yes, tomatoes truly are much more delicious eaten warm (and straight from the vine preferably!)
I agree entirely.
Rex, I grow up thinking they should be in the refrigerator. I will have to stop doing that.
I learned the same thing when I was growing up. When I found out that they shouldn’t be refrigerated, I was surprised. On the other hand, it made perfect sense. After all, a quick way to turn a nice firm tomato into mush is to freeze it and then thaw it out.
I won’t refrigerate my tomatoes from now on. Thank you for the advice.
You are very welcome. I hope that more people will learn that refrigerating them isn’t a good idea.
All very true, Rex. The best solution is to grow your own, but even that covers only the normal fruiting period. I purchase little cherry tomatoes, which are in general more flavoursome that the bigger ones, and never refrigerate them.
You are doing right in not refrigerating them. Yes, growing them is a solution, but people need to know that if they do grow their own, they should not be put in the fridge.