From a canning perspective I have heard that some tomatoes do not contain as much acid as they used to. Some say due to breeding, some to the way they are harvested. I don't know what the real reason is but I will add the necessary acid to tomatoes when canning.

I also do not believe that most of the produce bought in stores contain the nutrients that they use to. Which is why I prefer to grow my own.

gardener1908 that is a false assumption are false.

Compleat - you display a level of naivete' that max's out the scale. You need to check your "sources" again.

Today's commercial growers don't care if the stuff they grow is nutritious or not. They care whether or not you'll buy it. Genetically Modified vegetables are developed for "eye appeal" and not for nutrition. If it's pretty, you'll buy it. After you have bought it, go home and take a vitamin pill.

Tomato plants shut off the nutrition building when the color is blushed out. After that, they only provide water to the fruit. This water, depending on how much it processes to the fruit, will cause variance in the concentration of the "taste" factor chemicals within the tomato and therefore the overall taste. Lots of water can dilute the taste - kinda like the weak orange juice you get if you add an extra can of water to the frozen concentrate.

There are some tomatoes that taste better if kept a bit on the dry side - especially at or near harvest.

Ted

compleate I disasgree with you completely. Whether it is due to GM, when and how it is harvested, or simply how long the produce has been sitting til you buy it, at which point a lot of the nutritional value is lost. Fresh, grown from the garden cannot be beat from a taste and nutritional value.

well this just proves that i am not an English major. i actual ly agree with most of your comments.

often what is in my head does not make it to the paper.

what is was really saying is that i do not like store bought tomatoes and home grown taste better ripe off the vine.

is that more clear?

thanks for your responses.

WM

I have picked tomatos in my garden that were just turning pink when frost was imminent and ripened them on the window sill. I couldn't tell any difference in flavor.
The reason store bought tomatos have no flavor is the kind of tomatos the commercial farmers are growing not due to being pulled green. They are pretty, round and long keepers.
A few uears ago my tomatos got a fungus and died before the end of the season, My wife and a lady friend went to a local commercial tomato farm where they let them pick their own. They picked mostly beautiful ripe ones but got a few green ones because I love fried green tomatos. The ripe ones had very little acid or sugar, bland. She got more green ones than we ate so I put them on the window sill and forgot about them. A few weeks later I remembered and checked on them. They had turned red and dried up. Did not rot! They were bred for looks and long keeping.
You can get good tomatos at farmers markets but be sure you're getting an heirloom variety, not long keepers.
This year we've had excessive rain and my tomatos are very juicy but not as acidic or sweet. Still better than any at the gro. store though.

tedposey your assumptions are have no basis in science since they have been proven to be false in double blind studies.

gardener1908 you can disagree all you want but you statement are false with exception the of you statements about freshness,numerous studies have shown them to be false.

they have been proven to be false in double blind studies

numerous studies have shown them to be false

compleat, I think you need to back up these assertions with some documentation. How about some links to the studies you mention, or to information about them?

Not sure if I'm following this but there was just a study done and it was on the news stating that the nutritional value in organically produced vegetables vs non-organic was negligible. I'm not sure if this accounts for freshness off the vine though. If I find a link I will post it. It was around 2 weeks ago on the news.

Compleat - I also would like to see your sources, studies, etc. Also what do you grow yourself and how do you compare that with store bought?

I don't we are talking organic vs. non-organic. Most who prefer organic don't want their food blasted with herbicides & pesticides. And what all this plus the over use of fertilizers does to our ground water and enviorment. I personally do not use anything in my garden unless I have to,(just this year used a bit of neem on one small bed,but let the lettuce go) Others use some chemicals responsibily and thats their preference. I think that we are talking about the quality, taste and nutritional value of commercially grown food. Taste and nutrition are the last 2 criteria for commercial growers.