Why don't tomatoes this time of year taste as good as summer ones?

Question

I love home-grown and heirloom tomatoes you get in the summertime. They have wonderful flavor and texture. I've noticed the tomatoes you find at the market this time of year look OK, but they're tasteless and mushy. Aren't they grown under the same conditions as the summer ones? What's the difference?

Answer 1

I've noticed this too, and often feel disappointed when I bite into store bought fruit or veg that tastes watery and mushy.

The lack of flavor you notice in store-brought produce can be attributed to a number of factors.

Most importantly, much of what you buy at this time of year has been flown in from a far-away warmer location. It is often picked green, and because it is picked early, it does not have a chance to ripen properly from the sun and produce the sun-related nutrients that make it taste good to us and be good for us.

Some also argue (like the link for the article below) that commerical fertilizers, changes in soil composition and all the genetic modifications of store-bought fruit and veg also contribute to the lack of flavor.

That's not to say you shouldn't keep eating store-bought produce because obviously it does still contain nutrients. But the bottom line is, if it tastes less appealing (i.e. not as good as your home grown tomatoes), it probably does contain fewer of the vital nutrients our bodies need.

Thankfully, summer is just around the corner...

The below article was interesting. I'm not so sure about the product they are advertising for at the bottom (I just sort of ignored this), but the article itself is pretty good.

Answer 2

Those tomatoes may have come from farther away, thus are older and would taste funny. I think California had a flood or something so you are probably getting imported tomatoes or something.

Answer 3

usually the tomatoes you get in the summer are grown outdoors with exposure to rain and sunshine, it is this fact that makes them much tastier and better quality than the winter tomatoes, which are grown in greenhouses with artificial lights.

Answer 4

tomatoes may have come from farther away,