Who do you blame for those horrible supermarket tomatoes ?

[TomHillbilly]

Have you ever found yourself on the wrong side of a issue ? Have you ever wrongly accused someone ? What if I told you-- many of us have blamed the wrong person for those bland, hard, horrible supermarket tomatoes ? I blamed the supermarkets, and growers, for years. Then I happened to read a article from a large grower. He blamed the customer for those horrible tomatoes. That claim made me angry enough to read, his stupid false claims. After I finished, I realized I was on the wrong side of a issue. I was the one at fault. This grower pointed out that he knew the best tasting tomatoes. He grew those tomatoes for his home use.  But because they would bruise easy. They wouldn't be able to process them by machine washing. They wouldn't have a extended shelf life either. Therefore there would be a added costs. Those tomatoes wouldn't be perfect in shape, or without blemishes. Shucks-- they might even have cracks !  The customer would always pick that perfect shaped tomato, on the cheaper shelf, beside those higher priced tomatoes. The customer wanted a tomato without any cracks, or deformities. The customer would often want to squeeze the tomato, to see if it was ripe. The last thing on the customer's mind was taste, while selecting his tomato purchase. It was only after they set down at the table, did they consider taste. He then said, He had to grow a tomato that the stores could move out from among theirs shelves. Through his long lifetime in the business. He had seen all the best tasting tomato growers, belly up. Because they couldn't compete with the cheaper prices of those hard, horrible tasting, tomato. He could only market what sales dictated. Customers wanted a perfect tomato in appearance, that would last for weeks in the refrigerator, at a cheap per-pound price. Therefore it was the growers duty to supply them. Taste was never considered by any party involved-- until the knife cut the tomato open at the table. 

[DMF]

I blame the people who left them on the selves and bought the good ones.

[QAGUY]

To me, the worst thing about supermarket tomatoes is that they're picked green (not even at color break)
and gassed with ethylene to make them look red.

Those tomatoes might just be tasty if they were allowed to ripen.

[Cole_Robbie]

Farmers market customers are not much different about expecting visual perfection. They want perfect looks, but of course with no chemicals. Honestly, most of the tomatoes sold at my market don't taste any better than the grocery store.

[Clkeiper]

Farmers market customers are not much different about expecting visual perfection. They want perfect looks, but of course with no chemicals. Honestly, most of the tomatoes sold at my market don't taste any better than the grocery store.

truth.
I had a looky loo the other day and he asked if my tomatoes (potted ones) were organic. I looked at him and said "in the strictest definition they are organic. they are alive and growing." but since you stepped inside my greenhouse I can no longer say I was even if I strove rigorously to be so. you just contaminated my whole operation because you used commercial deodorant and toothpaste, laundry detergent and shampoo"... now think about that.

[pepperhead212]

... Honestly, most of the tomatoes sold at my market don't taste any better than the grocery store.

I've been saying this for many years (or rather, decades) right here in Jersey, where they used to grow some of the best tomatoes! It's probably because the tomatoes they grow are mostly for shipping - those at a roadside market are just some of the same ones sent away in trucks, and those are the hard, juiceless, flavorless varieties.

[karstopography]

Farmer’s markets seem to vary in quality. My little town had just gotten a really nice farmer’s market going, but this virus came along . I actually think supermarket tomatoes have improved in the last few years, but not to where they threaten home grown. Santa Fe, New Mexico puts on a great farmer’s market. Definitely can find a really nice and interesting tomato there in the late summer or early fall.

It’s possible to have home grown tomatoes grown outdoors here year around, but it takes some doing. One day, I’ll do 12 consecutive months of homegrown outdoors tomatoes, but I’m not quite there yet.

[TomHillbilly]

@karstopography------ I'm thinking you might be from the "neck of the woods" that is more famous peppers. LOL.
I've been experimenting with several peppers that was developed in NM. I had no ideal there was so many. Its like the pepper capital of breeders.
Am I wrong ?? Many pepper varieties bare the "Numex" label.

[karstopography]

Well, not exactly from New Mexico, but I get up there as much as possible. I was supposed to be there at the end of March, but the world had other plans...

Peppers are their thing there in New Mexico. I’m a native Texan that generally prefers Northern New Mexican seasoning over my homegrown Tex-Mex, fajitas excluded. Posole, their red and green enchilada sauces, all very mouthwatering. I think each little valley or hamlet has a local pepper variety or two cultivated for generations plus new ones being cooked up in the agriculture business settings. Hot days, good irrigation water, low humidity, must be the thing for growing a lot of good peppers. But I’ve seen plenty of beautiful heirloom tomatoes there at the farmer’s market along with lots of other great produce. Move up 1,500-2,000 feet, grow something that like a little cooler weather, go down into the lower elevations, grow a heat lover. Not every place has so many little microclimates.