Tomato

15/1/2019

Beautiful tomato, heavy, plump and red, soft to the touch, slightly blemished due to a spate of rainy days. The season so far has been sparse, despite the borrowed bees in their Hilton-like structure in the garden. From this large healthy plant, we'll probably only get five tomatoes. Whatever, sliced, a touch of salt, covered in olive oil and ripped basil, this tomato makes a delicate entrée for two.
Would we be prepared to pay for good tomatoes, soft-skinned, picked from the vine only when ripe?
It's become a cliché to complain about the modern tomato. Is it our fault?

I've looked into this. Vine-ripened tomatoes are NOT ripened on the vine. Sorry to crush your delusions. They should more rightly be called "cluster tomatoes" because they are a variety that grows that way. And don't they look lovely in the greengrocer's with their little green stems? You pay more, harvesting is trickier but there is no improvement in flavour. Furthermore, all bought tomatoes are bred for tough skins , which makes them easier to transport. (See doctoring tomatoes in post 28/12/2017.)
How much more would we be prepared to pay?

6 Comments

Roger

17/1/2019 08:00:37 am

Often so hard to grow.

Cath link

17/1/2019 08:20:19 am

...and so we will forget the true flavour of the tomato. I suspect that seedlings are now being developed along guidelines for commercial fruit - tough, drought resistant etc. How is Italy's tomato growing culture, I wonder?

Claire link

17/1/2019 03:18:12 pm

Hi Cath

Check out a new book called 'Tomato - know, sow, grow, feast.' A great resource.

Rick Burford

26/2/2019 10:07:38 am

There are multiple issues here ...

- The over industrialisation of food production and distribution
- Consumer expectation that any and all food items will be available all the time even out of season
- Demise of home grown produce (possibly driven by the demise of the back-yard garden or no back yard at all)
- The control of food retail by a few companies - effectively a cartel and the subsequent pressure on food producers to cut their margins.

I for one am happy to pay a fair price for good seasonal produce providing the farmer is able to remain profitable and not just the distribution and retail chain.

It is my experience however that food prices in the UK and Italy are better than here. I do understand that the distribution distances are less but to pay 400% more in Adelaide for potatoes grown in Virginia (SA) than in London for potatoes grown in Norfolk seems wrong.

Rick.

26/2/2019 12:47:43 pm

Oops - I have just checked my price comparisons - I exaggerated the price of potatoes.

Potatoes were in Adelaide were only 223% of the price in the UK.
Carrots were 700%, green beans 370%, lettuce 186%, organic milk 208% and free range eggs 116%. Overall for a fairly typical shopping basket of good quality food staples the price in Adelaide was 196% that in England.

These figures were at a Sainsburys (actually in Bodmin for Poldark fans) in the UK and Foodland in Frewville, on November 3rd and November 15th last year.

After Brexit ...... who knows!

26/2/2019 05:30:34 pm

Interesting. Whatever the figures, it's sad that farmers get so little for so much work and worry. We all lose out.

Tomato

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