On Sat, 1 Dec 2012 02:24:30 +0000, PracticalBBQ'r
> wrote:


>
>Finding a good tomato in American markets is like hitting the lottery.
>All you can do is smell the tomato, if it has a strong scent of tomato,
>then it will taste good. Commercial tomatoes are 'engineered' to look
>good and that is all, they are picked green and hard for ease of
>shipping purposes and are gassed to turn them red.


Not just tomatoes. Many fruits in the supermarket are really poor
quality compared to a local farm. Citrus can be good, but peaches
and the like are pretty sad even in season. Those big strawberries
make nice presentation, but taste like cardboard.