Most tomatoes at restaurants are legitimately awful, like watery and tasteless. Same for most at grocery stores. They’re not worth putting on, especially if someone dislikes the texture.
Modern commercial varieties have largely been selected for durability, shelf life, and appealing looks, at the expense of flavor and texture. The focus has been on maximizing how well they work in a modern supply chain, not how good they are for the end consumer. Some work has been done to develop varieties that work in a supply chain while also still tasting good, but these are heavily patented and controlled, generally sold as a premium product and not something that most restaurants will spend the extra money on.
A good verity can only do so much though, as although tomatoes are notionally Climacteric (Continue to ripen after being removed from the plant), ripening them off of the plant will create a different result. The sugar content will increase and the color will change to red, but, tartness and more complex compounds that contribute to flavor will not. This is largely due to these compounds not being the result of the ripening process but rather the result of the plant’s immune responses. The tomato will not get these if it is removed from the plant for ripening.
Even if ripened on the plant, the tomato will still be lacking if the plant is being grown in a heavily controlled and sterile environment, such as in a industrial hydroponic greenhouse or in an industrial farm field. Much of the flavor of the tomato is a result of the plant responding to stresses from being attacked by pests and diseases. What we perceive as “yummy tomato flavor” in a home grown heirloom tomato is actually defensive compounds produced by the plant.
This could be addressed by intentionally introducing some stresses as part of the growing process, but no major company is currently doing this. Many are still ripening them off the vine or using bad varieties.
TLDR: commercial tomatoes suck because of how they are produced and you should grow some in a garden or buy some from a local farmer if you want them to be worth your time.
yesyesyesyes I’ve been droning on about this for years. I love tomatoes but I hate tomatoes from the store. If someone asks me: “do you not like tomatoes?” I have to tell them the whole shabang.
Recently I even did kinda an asshole move by asking in a restaurant which variety of tomato was in the dish. It turnt out to be a miniscule cherry tomato for garnish, so not even worth the effort.
Strongly recommend getting a tomato plant, even if it’s just in a pot inside, also some mason jars for when you inevitably have a bunch of tomatoes and not enough uses for them.
Most tomatoes at restaurants are legitimately awful, like watery and tasteless. Same for most at grocery stores. They’re not worth putting on, especially if someone dislikes the texture.
Modern commercial varieties have largely been selected for durability, shelf life, and appealing looks, at the expense of flavor and texture. The focus has been on maximizing how well they work in a modern supply chain, not how good they are for the end consumer. Some work has been done to develop varieties that work in a supply chain while also still tasting good, but these are heavily patented and controlled, generally sold as a premium product and not something that most restaurants will spend the extra money on.
A good verity can only do so much though, as although tomatoes are notionally Climacteric (Continue to ripen after being removed from the plant), ripening them off of the plant will create a different result. The sugar content will increase and the color will change to red, but, tartness and more complex compounds that contribute to flavor will not. This is largely due to these compounds not being the result of the ripening process but rather the result of the plant’s immune responses. The tomato will not get these if it is removed from the plant for ripening.
Even if ripened on the plant, the tomato will still be lacking if the plant is being grown in a heavily controlled and sterile environment, such as in a industrial hydroponic greenhouse or in an industrial farm field. Much of the flavor of the tomato is a result of the plant responding to stresses from being attacked by pests and diseases. What we perceive as “yummy tomato flavor” in a home grown heirloom tomato is actually defensive compounds produced by the plant.
This could be addressed by intentionally introducing some stresses as part of the growing process, but no major company is currently doing this. Many are still ripening them off the vine or using bad varieties.
TLDR: commercial tomatoes suck because of how they are produced and you should grow some in a garden or buy some from a local farmer if you want them to be worth your time.
yesyesyesyes I’ve been droning on about this for years. I love tomatoes but I hate tomatoes from the store. If someone asks me: “do you not like tomatoes?” I have to tell them the whole shabang.
Recently I even did kinda an asshole move by asking in a restaurant which variety of tomato was in the dish. It turnt out to be a miniscule cherry tomato for garnish, so not even worth the effort.
I like tomatoes, but I can’t remember the last time I had a good one.
Strongly recommend getting a tomato plant, even if it’s just in a pot inside, also some mason jars for when you inevitably have a bunch of tomatoes and not enough uses for them.