Frankentomatoes

[boudin noir]

I grow my own tomatoes. In the winter if I want tomatoes I use  caned. I was making a dish where I thought a few fresh tomatoes would be nice and I bought some Santa Sweet grape tomatoes. They were awfull. For what ever reason I did not throw them out. I have had them now for over a month sitting on my counter. They have not changed. They are firm, red, and looking just like they did when I bought them. What have we done to our food?

[Deryn]

Sad, isn't it.

 

I have had an 'organic' tomato (I would say obviously not heirloom though) sitting on my desk by the computer now for 3 plus weeks and it is just as red and 'ripe' looking as the day I bought it - and no bad spots on it anywhere. I originally bought it to make a sandwich, thinking how beautiful and plump and juicy looking it was. Didn't get around to it so now it is an 'experiment' to see how long this can go on.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I gave up!! they are awful and they do last forever what the hell? …besides if you believe what folks are screaming ..and read the  research ..really?  there is WAYYY too much wrong with the tomato industry ….I just gave up some things out of season and tomatoes are a biggie for me ..I have 15 3 beds dedicated to growing various tomato and it looks like it is going to be a good year …they are garden crack and I  will stretch this season as long as possible ..EVERYONE who loves food should find a way to grow at least one plant somewhere I used to grow them on the window sills in apartments with partial light and they were still better than grocery store cyborgs 

[btbyrd]

Some people sure like to complain. God forbid your supermarket tomatoes be bred to travel and store well. Sorry they didn't taste better, which is shocking given that it's the height of tomato season.

[radtek]

But to the OP's credit, commercial toms look great but that's about all they bring to the party. 

 

AArgh. I got a late start and with too much rain (almost killed the plants) the tomatoes plants aren't even in the ground yet. And, soon (already) it'll be far too hot to flower. But, I may get a late summer early fall crop out of them.

 

As far as the frankentomatoes go... I've had my homegrown last quite a while on the counter. Late in the season when the last is harvested, and they only have a hint of blush the tomatoes will keep for more than a month on the counter slowly ripening.

 

At this point I make stewed tomatoes for freezing once enough have ripened.