On Jan 18, 5:05*am, "john eastwood" >
wrote:

> Thanks to all. *I know tomatoes dont taste so good when they first come
> 'cold' out of the fridge, but making allowances for this would there be any
> other reason for not keeping tomatoes in the fridge?

If you're talking grocery store tomatoes, it doesn't matter.
They're not going to get much better or worse whatever
you do to them.

I read somewhere (and now I can't recall where; maybe
Cook's Illustrated), that refrigerating ripe tomatoes permanently
destroys chemicals that give ripe tomatoes much of their
flavor.

Another source says that refrigerating destroys cell
walls, rendering them mushy. I believe it.

> Since they definitely seem to keep for longer before going too soft if in
> the fridge. *I know ideally we would keep buying as fresh as possible, but
> its not aways convenient.

Perfectly ripe garden-grown tomatoes shouldn't be refrigerated.
Go ahead and refrigerate grocery-store tomatoes, and try
to remember to take 'em out of the fridge in time to warm up
before you eat them.

I buy a pint of grape tomatoes, graperomas, cherry tomatoes, or
some such once a week and keep them on the counter. The
pint is just about gone by the time the tomatoes are starting
to get wrinkly.

Cindy Hamilton