The world we live in

Ok folks... This is ridiculous. I had to share.

http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2...-make-grocery-store-tomatoes-tasty-again.html

WHAT?? Apparently we need fewer scientists and more gardeners. MY tomatoes taste just lovely thanks. Amazing.

Store tomatoes are supposed to look pretty, ship well, and last for a relatively long time. Taste and texture aren't considered

Locally grown foods should be a duh. Even of they grow some of the stuff in greenhouses for the winter.

Good gravy! Nothing better than a fresh picked, warmed by sunshine, ripe juicy tomato that you walk out into the garden and pick right there, eat right there, and you don't even care that the juice running down your chin. Silly scientists.

I'm using grow bags for potatoes and tomatoes this year. I haven't grown tomatoes in a few years because we tend to get late blight issues, but if I keep the rain off I should get a harvest

I think at least one factor in how good tomatoes taste is that long wait during winter and spring before you can eat one again. I'm the same way about asparagus, fresh peaches, and tangerines.

Or apricots. I have dreams about apricots. Warm from the sun and so juicy and sweet and flavorful right off the tree.

Ripe apricots don't ship and apricots are one of those fruits that do not ripen off the tree (or produce more sugar), they can only soften. To me, fresh ones from the store are worthless. Very rarely one of the local vendors will bring some to the farmers market. Same with sour cherries (which don't keep either).

Grocery store strawberries are meh to me. So sour because they are unripe (so they will keep). Local berry farm is where to go for them here. They are sweet and ripe but will not last more than a few days. I buy half a flat or a flat and can them if I'm making jams. We counted time and space and found it's better for us to just spend the $20 for a full flat (legally 12 pints. They give more here. End up with about 16 pounds of fruit) None of the varieties they grow are huge, but are the smaller ones that are really good.

I buy blueberries and raspberries there as well. Not blackberries, but only because I have a ton of invasive brambles on the property I pick from.

I love using freshly picked tomatoes from the garden. They are way much better than anything you'll get in a store. I know that goes for pretty much everything else except that we cannot get everything from the garden.

Hinotori said:

Store tomatoes are supposed to look pretty, ship well, and last for a relatively long time. Taste and texture aren't considered

Click to expand...

So true. In fact, they are generally picked green then gassed to ripen en route. in FL you see fields picked, smaller fruits left and then often farmers open them to gleaners when ripe. While they are better than the green & gassed & shipped, still not anywhere NEAR the older, odd shaped, juicy varieties.

I saw the newscast about this and just chuckled....of course they have hybridized the flavor out. Anyone who has an older variety plant and sun ripen, will understand WHAT the complaint is about. For some, they have never had other than flavorless. How sad. It's the same with all food, meat, eggs. The flavor is so very different! Like processed, not home cooked.

Nothing compares to a vine-ripened tomato that has never been refrigerated. Straight from the garden to the plate. Yum, yum, yum!

Can't wait!