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i too stopped ordering tomatos for this reason

some people mentioned looking for places that advertise using heirloom tomatos, but you still have to give them a good pinch of salt

would love to join a startup that re-engineers flavor back into commercially-viable crops




I've actually thought about this before. AFAICT, it's mostly a supply chain issue.

In order to ship fruit long distance, they're harvested before they're ready, and artificially ripened in frozen containers. This lets them survive long journeys but kills a lot of the taste.

So your company would end up being a traceability and logistics one - what's the nearest place to your customers that grow fruit, how can you prove it, and how can you get it in their hands.

(Last two contracts were in artificial fruit ripening and supply chain traceability respectively).


I lived in a city and had a roofdeck with full sun all day. Tomatos grew amazingly well up there, and the flavor of those ripe tomatoes was so amazing that we had them with nearly every meal. It also made buying tomatos from the grocery store totally impossible.


I've noticed that full sun makes a surprisingly big difference, even with the naturally good tasting heirloom varieties (Cherokee purple, Brandywine, etc.).

I wonder what the science there is. You'd think the slower ripening in partial shade (often a week or more slower) would result in a more complex tasting tomato, but perhaps the flavor compounds never reach a critical mass.


Grape tomatoes in plastic containers are usually more flavorful because the seller doesn't have to ship them underripe to keep them from squishing.


They too are starting to taste more like cardboard.


Just move to Europe.


Most tomatoes here suck as well.


Bulgaria, Greece


Just always get beefsteak tomatoes for burgers


Or Africa. Each time I've visited I've remarked on how much more flavor things have.


Frequent travels to Africa have made me incapable of swallowing pineapple and mangoes in Europe - they can't compete against fruit picked ripe.


Sorry to tell you tomatoes are flavourless in Europe as well.


I lived almost 7 years in Germany, and the average tomato at a supermarket was lightyears beyond the US. Then farmers markets are even better.


Funny enough, the further east you go, the better they taste.

But tbf, only for a few months when the many small farmers grow them outdoors and sell them for unbelievably cheap.

Rest of the time it's greenhouse tomatoes like everyone else.


I lived almost 7 years in the USA, and the average tomato at a supermarket was lightyears beyond Germany. Then farmers markets are even better.


I am willing to participate in a blind taste test to resolve this issue.


Yep. You have to grow own tomatoes to have good ones. Which is something only few people are willing and have option to do.


Except the available seeds are probably decreasing in quality as well.


No, there are places dedicated to preserving and making available heirloom seeds.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: https://www.southernexposure.com/

Seed Savers Exchange https://www.seedsavers.org/

Open Source Seed Initiative partners with multiple seed exchanges: https://osseeds.org/


Is there a market for good tasting tomato seeds? :D

It's actually fascinating - I remember my grandmother scooping out the seeds out of vegetables and drying them, to be used next year.

The villagers also traded them as apparently they had different varieties.





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