The thing I love most about growing my own food is the variety and diversity of vegetables that you get access to. If you love food, then it’s simply the best way to get your hands on interesting tastes and flavours that can be difficult to source elsewhere.
No other vegetable (or fruit, if you want to be pedantic) better exemplifies the problems of blandness in the commercial food chain than tomatoes. It has suffered more than most I think from the rigours of mass food production. Where once tomatoes were a delicious sweet treat (sweet enough to be eaten by itself as you would an apple), they have now become little more than a mind-blowingly bland sandwich filler.
But how did this happen? What is it about commercial tomato production that makes them so tasteless.
The journal Science recently reported on a study led by James J. Giovannoni of the US Department of Agriculture Research Service which revealed a genetic reason for tomato tastelessness. It turns out that commercial growers in the US in the 1930s were responsible for producing a deliberate genetic mutation in tomatoes.
A common problem at the time for them was that (quite naturally) the ‘shoulder’ of the tomato used to stay greener for longer than the rest of the fruit. Consumers didn’t like the look of tomatoes that were even a little green and so the growers embarked on a quest for the holy grail of tomato growing – a tomato that would ripen in a uniform way.
One commercial grower managed to breed a tomato plant that produced fruit that ripened from an even shade of green to an even shade of red – this new mutation was called the “uniform ripening” trait and because of its appeal to consumers it was quickly bred in to other varieties. Pretty much all commercial tomato varieties now have this trait.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the story. Scientists have since discovered that the same trait that was making those green shoulders in the tomatoes was also making them sweeter and creating more flavor. The uniform ripening trait they produced actually disabled this gene, resulting in fruit that had less sugar (and therefore less sweetness) and fewer carotenoids (less antioxidant potential). Quite literally, commercial growers had unwittingly sacrificed flavour and nutrition for uniformity of appearance to increase sales. According to Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland, historically tomatoes had 30 to 40 percent more vitamin C and more niacin and calcium than their modern equivalents.
The traditional heirloom varieties also fell out of favour with commercial growers because they had the annoying habit of coming in all shapes and sizes – this made them difficult to pack. And since they had softer skin, they were more likely to spoil in transit. As you will know if you have grown your own, a freshly picked, ripe tomato is a fragile thing – it doesn’t stand up to much wear and tear. If left in a bowl on your counter top for a few days it will start to get soggy and soft.
From a commercial perspective, it’s difficult to pick, handle, pack and ship something this fragile without it getting damaged. Growers have therefore bred in tough and firm skins in to the tomatoes – ideal if you want to inflict some damage at the La Tomatina food fight festival in Valencia, but not so good to eat.
Another little trick is that commercial tomatoes are often picked while still green (and therefore quite hard) so that they can be shipped long distances without damage. The gas ethylene is then used to induce ripening during transit. They are often kept in a sort of a holding pattern in cold storage before shipping which destroys their flavor and texture. Home-growers know that you should never put tomatoes in the fridge – eat them warm, I say.
As consumers, we exacerbate the problem. For one thing, it is our desire for uniformity and our insistence on ‘buying with our eyes’ that leads to growers coming up with ways to produce more uniform produce. Our expectation that there should be tomatoes on the shelves 365 days a year drives demand for imports. The uncomfortable truth for the tomato consumer is that the Irish tomato season only runs from May to November. Tomatoes available beyond those months are likely to be imports.
Thankfully as home-growers we can enjoy diversity, variety, flavour and lack of uniformity. GIYers can grow a dizzying array of beautiful flavoursome tomatoes that will come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Quite often there can be varying degrees of ripeness in a single tomato – this is to be celebrated. They can be grown without using an ounce of a chemical pesticide, insecticide or fertilizer (but plenty of horse manure and comfrey tea).
They taste amazing. Sweet, luscious, divine little balls of flavour. Some varieties you will enjoy more than others – and that’s the beauty of it – you experiment with new varieties each year, and simply don’t bother growing the ones you don’t love the following year. In fact, if there is a down side to growing your own tomatoes it is that once you’ve tasted the home-grown varieties, it’s almost impossible to go back to shop-bought ones once your tomato season ends. That almost forces you to eat seasonally and makes tomatoes a July-October delicacy. But oh what a delicacy…!
In the photo from left to right are some of my own tomatoes grown at home this year. The varieties are L-R Belriccio, Matina, San Marzano, Tigerella, Orangina, Sungold and Yellow Teardrop.
