FoodFood InformationVegetables
Tomatoes, which are native to South America, are available twelve monthsof the year. In the United States, California and Florida are the majorproducers, although during the summer months tomatoes are grown locallyin most of the other states. During the winter months tomatoes are importedfrom Mexico in huge quantities, and in far lesser amounts from Europe andIsrael, to supplement our own production.
Originally tomatoes were yellow in color, but these are now an oddity, morethan 99 percent of the ones produced in the United States are red. Alongwith the traditional sized and round-shaped garden varieties of tomatoes,there are some types that are plum-shaped. There are also miniature tomatoes,not much bigger than marbles, called cherry tomatoes, which have been showingan annual gain in popularity.
Tomatoes were first introduced in Europe as curios by the explorers returningfrom the New World. In many areas of Europe it was believed that the tomatowas poisonous because it was of the same botanical family as belladonna,a known poison.
This unwarranted fear was brought to North America by the early settlers,but it wasn't until the late nineteenth century that we accepted the tomatoas a wholesome, flavorful, nontoxic, fresh food. Today the tomato ranksthird in the annual tonnage of fresh vegetables used in the United States.(Potatoes rank first and lettuce, second.)
There has always been some dispute as to whether the tomato is a fruit ora vegetable. Since it is a berry it is botanically classified as a fruit.However, in the marketplace it is classified as a vegetable by the consumer,and the customer is always right!
Depending on your geographical location and the time of the year, you willbe offered two kinds of tomatoes: vine-ripened and force-ripened. They'lllook alike but won't taste alike. Tomatoes are at their flavor best whenthey are harvested after they reach full color. They will lack flavor ifharvested while still green and then force-ripened.
The best tomatoes with full flavor are those that aren't picked until theyreach full color. But even those that are picked while only starting toturn pink will ripen up to near-full flavor. Tomatoes of this quality arelike the ones you would grow in your own backyard and are usually availablewhen grown locally during the summer months. They are very delicate andfragile and must be picked, packed, transported, and marketed with utmostcare to prevent bruising or crushing.
Some vine-ripes are available during the off-season in the winter months,but most of the domestically grown supply is down to a trickle because nearlyall the Florida and California growers prefer to sell the consumer the greenrather than the ripe tomato. In the winter some vine-ripes arrive via truckfrom Mexico and only a few come in via air from Europe and Israel. Thereare also hothouse tomatoes, and this supply helps fill the seasonal gaps.
The supermarket tomato is a vegetable of the same color, but it has a differentflavor. These are picked while still grass-green. The growers claim thatthey are "mature" greens, but green is green. Green tomatoes areharvested, washed, graded, and packed by machine. Either at the source,in transit, or upon arrival at the wholesale terminals and chain-store warehouses,they are exposed to warmth and usually to ethylene gas. This combinationof heat and gas force-ripens the tomatoes. They change in color from greento pink to a rosy red. At this point they look very much like the flavorfulsuper vine-ripes, but they lack flavor and are often too hard to be juicy.Note that the ethylene gas used to ripen the tomatoes is the same productused to ripen bananas. It is harmless and is a duplicate of the naturalgas exuded by many fresh fruits, including tomatoes.
To the growers, force-ripened tomatoes mean a lot more cash for their cropbecause the labor costs are only a fraction of those needed to produce vine-ripenedtomatoes. There is also a far greater yield per acre because there is lesschance of damage in the field from rain, wind, or hail, and there is littleor no loss due to damage in transit. Supermarkets love the force-ripenedtomatoes because they are almost indestructible. They require no extra helpor care. Even if they are handled like coal by careless employees or overzealousself-service shoppers, the supermarket tomatoes endure. Similar treatmentto vine-ripes would result in a transformation to ketchup or tomato juice.But during the winter months especially, consumers have to settle for lessthan flavorful tomatoes.
Unfortunately, even at the peak of season during July and August, when somany areas have locally grown tomatoes that are readily available, mostof the supermarkets and many smaller stores continue to handle the sameflavorless tomatoes they offered all winter. But at least during the summerthe consumer can shop for homegrown vine-ripened tomatoes at road standsor in some of the more specialized fruit stores.
Whenever the vine-ripe tomatoes are not available, try switching to cherrytomatoes or plum (roma) tomatoes. They usually have more flavor than theforce-ripened tomatoes.
Tomatoes don't like and do not ripen properly or at all (depending on thematurity of the tomato) if stored under refrigeration. Unfortunately, whilethere is a vast difference between the flavor of vine-ripened and force-ripenedtomatoes, they look very much alike.
WHEN TO BUY: Available year-round
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Vine-ripened, full-color fruit
HOW TO STORE: Ripen at room temperature; refrigerate only after fully ripenedand only if temperatures exceed 75F.
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