FYI: Shitty tomatoes in the grocery store is mostly from genetics.
Good flavorful tomatoes are full of aromatics and volatiles that are produced by the degradation of the cell wal triggered by an ethylene burst. Ethylene is a very important plant hormone that controls lots of complex processes including fruit ripening in some species.
The major downside of highly flavored tomatoes is a very short shelf-life and difficulty shipping. The market has been demanding better storing tomatoes to reduce waste.
The first attempt was utilizing the rin gene. This caused the complete shutdown of natural ethylene production in the fruit. External ethylene application was needed to ripen the fruit. Since the fruit could not produce it’s own ethylene the ripening process stopped once the fruit was removed from the gas chamber. AKA the original cardboard tomatoes. These varieties fell out of favor mainly because of the difficulty in evenly ripening them.
Since then breeders have been selecting for a reduction in expansin activity. Expansins are part of what cuts up the cell wall during ripening or growth. Reducing this activity makes the tomatoes firm and have reduced flavor, even when vine ripened. Genetically shit tasting on the vine, perfect for shipping 10,000 miles away.
FYI: Shitty tomatoes in the grocery store is mostly from genetics.
Good flavorful tomatoes are full of aromatics and volatiles that are produced by the degradation of the cell wal triggered by an ethylene burst. Ethylene is a very important plant hormone that controls lots of complex processes including fruit ripening in some species.
The major downside of highly flavored tomatoes is a very short shelf-life and difficulty shipping. The market has been demanding better storing tomatoes to reduce waste.
The first attempt was utilizing the rin gene. This caused the complete shutdown of natural ethylene production in the fruit. External ethylene application was needed to ripen the fruit. Since the fruit could not produce it’s own ethylene the ripening process stopped once the fruit was removed from the gas chamber. AKA the original cardboard tomatoes. These varieties fell out of favor mainly because of the difficulty in evenly ripening them.
Since then breeders have been selecting for a reduction in expansin activity. Expansins are part of what cuts up the cell wall during ripening or growth. Reducing this activity makes the tomatoes firm and have reduced flavor, even when vine ripened. Genetically shit tasting on the vine, perfect for shipping 10,000 miles away.