In article >, "jmcquown" > wrote:
>kilikini wrote:
>> "SportKite1" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>> From:
>>>
>>>> The cost of having a nice tomato & lettuce salad/sandwich,has gone
>>>> way up.
>>>
>>> Perhaps the price of having a BLT has gone up, but having a NICE
>>> tomato is nonexistent. They are the worse tasting pieces of drek
>>> I've seen in years....at ANY price.
>>
>> I agree, they're orange instead of red and they're always hard. Good
>> luck finding vine ripened these days.
Down in this part of the planet we have similar problems, but we *can*
get nice tomatoes at a price -- like $8.95/kg versus $2.99/kg for the
normal gunk, both types at the local supermarket at the moment.
>The small store down the street from me does carry nice, red, juicy
>vine-ripened tomatoes in the summer months. They get them from farmers in
>Ripley, TN, which is like tomato mecca in this part of the state.
>
>I think it's a bit too late in the year for decent tomatoes if they have to
>truck them in from a distance. Then, of course, they pick them too early so
>they don't rot in transit. They just aren't the same.
Some years ago a tomato breeder explained that they had indeed bred a
tasty, transportable, tomato here. But it had to be left on the bush
until coloured to develop flavour -- it could then be shipped okay
because it was still very firm in spite of being "vine ripened".
Trouble was, farmers and the rest of the trade either wouldn't believe
it, or couldn't break old habits, so it was picked green like the rest
and ended up tasting like the rest as a result. :-(
Cheers, Phred.
--
LID