Have you ever seen a grocery store oxheart tomato?

[Shule]

Have you ever seen an oxheart-shaped tomato in the grocery store? I haven't.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen pear-shaped ones in the grocery store either. Some people define the pear shape differently, but here I'm just defining it as a long tomato that is significantly fatter on the blossom end than it is on the rest of the tomato.

[PlainJane]

No, never.

[Cole_Robbie]

I have seen oxhearts in a small basket of tomatoes labelled "heirloom" in the grocery store in winter. They had a product of canada sticker, so would have been greenhouse grown. They looked ok, but were $4.99 a pound. I would imagine flavor to be more watered down than a summer tomato.

[MissS]

Yes I have seen an Oxheart tomato in our grocery as well as the pear shaped tomatoes sold as heirlooms. I did buy them once and they were not that appealing but they were better than the normal red tomatoes.

[Whwoz]

Cannot think of any that I have seen here either

[Tormahto]

I have seen oxhearts in a small basket of tomatoes labelled "heirloom" in the grocery store in winter. They had a product of canada sticker, so would have been greenhouse grown. They looked ok, but were $4.99 a pound. I would imagine flavor to be more watered down than a summer tomato.

Same here, just last week.

Under grocery store lights, in February, in a super market, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if it's a pale red or a pink. Knowing that most reds are "glossy", compared to pinks that are "semi-glossy" to "satiny", I deduced that this heart was likely a pink, or a really sickly red. I also deduced that the flavor was likely really sickly. If I see another, I just might be tempted, as I'm nearing the withdrawal stage for fresh from the garden tomatoes.

[Ginger2778]

Have you ever seen an oxheart-shaped tomato in the grocery store? I haven't.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen pear-shaped ones in the grocery store either. Some people define the pear shape differently, but here I'm just defining it as a long tomato that is significantly fatter on the blossom end than it is on the rest of the tomato.

Yes. Publix now sells "heirloom" tomatoes, including some of the blandest hearts and pear shapes I have ever had the misfortune to taste.

[MissS]

My grocery sells them as expensive heirlooms. My Costco also gets heirloom packages from Canada in that contain them.

[guruofgardens]

We have one grocery store that regularly has heirloom tomatoes and other peppers besides the common ones. I bought a few of the black/purple beefsteaks, thinking I might save some seeds. The bland taste prevented me from saving seeds. I guess we just get a hankering for good tomatoes when there is snow and ice on the ground.

[Paquebot]

Any store tomato now is the best fresh tomato no matter how bad it tastes. We have a large greenhouse complex not far from here in Wisconsin so "local" tomatoes are better than what used to come up from Florida.

I have seen oxheart but have never bought any. In a way, I'm surprised that they are not more common since their shelf life is usually long. Lack of juice would probably turn most consumers off. Since the juice is where a lot of the taste comes from, lack of repeat buyers would kill it.

Martin