Just found this June 2012 NPR segment about soils and tomatoes:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/01/154072388/how-to-grow-the-tastiest-tomato-the-secret-s-in-the-soil

I have a sandy clay mix soil. The clay is about 18" down.

When I was growing up we had almost pure red clay and the toms seemed to taste better, according to my remembrance.

I am trying an experiment this year. I dug down deep and brought up the red clay to make a bed.

They are better looking plants than my others, but I don't have a ripe one yet.

I'll let you know if they taste better in a few weeks!

My husband and I were just talking about this the other day. He was asking what was wrong with a greenhouse tomato, they look so good! lol It's only my opinion, but greenhouse tomatoes I've eaten are in the supermarket in the winter and have no taste, regardless of how good they might look.

My husband wanted to know why and I had to think about that. Part of my answer, was the soil. I assume that in a greenhouse, you might be growing in containers and in potting soil mixes, rather than in actual garden soil and I thought that makes all the difference in the world. You don't have everything in potting soil that you have in the ground, and growers always try to make up for that with synthetic fertilizers, which is why they look so good, but something is still missing that accounts for the lack of taste, I would think. And I for one am happy that scientists have not been able to figure it out and we all still need to garden in the backyard to get a tasty tomato. [g]
All my own theory of course.

Thanks for that link, Oldngrowing, interesting subject.

when we were kids and granny sent us to gather tomatoes none were so good as those unwashed with a bit of dust and mud oh, you mean does the soil affect taste? Just kidding. Sometime I've a longer story about carrots.

"Agricultural extension specialists in New Jersey that an experiment there using seawater on tomatoes also yielded better flavor."

I live a long way from the ocean. But I read somewhere, maybe here, that some people add salted water to their plants. I'm not that brave though!

I do add Epsom salt, I'm not sure that it helps but it doesn't seem to hurt!