Tomatoes
December 29, 2017 • Los Angeles
A friend of mine always says “Tomatoes aren’t good anymore.” She’s talking about the fact that tomatoes that are sold in supermarkets are mealy and flavorless, despite being beautifully red and perfectly round. They look great and pack and ship beautifully, arriving at the other end of a thirty-hour truck ride and automated processing looking the same as they went in. I don’t even buy them anymore, and because tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that cans really well, I used canned tomatoes for stews and sauces. If you need fresh tomatoes, however, here are some strategies:
“Heirloom” supermarket tomatoes: These look distinctly different from the mealy on-the-vine factory tomatoes and cost ten times as much, and they only appear in certain seasons, but the flavor and texture are true tomato.
Farmers markets: You’ll find supermarket sawdust-flavored tomatoes at some markets, but you’ll know real tomatoes by the look and feel of them: rich red or yellow and soft.
Grow your own/friends and neighbors: It’s not that difficult to grow tomatoes in spring and summer, provided you get lots of sunlight and heat. Be sure to get “heirloom” seeds. They need a lot of water. Even better, ask around at the end of summer for friends and neighbors who grow them.
For now it seems good tomatoes are a seasonal product, and the large corporations who run the food factories and distribution swear that they’re working on better-tasting tomatoes. I’m skeptical, because their priority is always going to be sturdiness for shipping, and that means their products will always be mealy—stick with the alternative food supply if you can.
