The Quest for Flavor in Red Tomatoes
I heard the tail end of a piece on NPR this morning about a tomato breeding program in Florida to insert the better qualities of wild-grown tomatoes or even cousins of tomatoes, crossed with high-yielding and resistant varieties of commercial tomatoes. What’s great about this is the attention to flavor. Tomato breeders put flavor low on the priority list several decades ago when the priority shifted to yield, transportability, and size and shape (which can lower the costs of staking, harvesting, etc.)
I’m pretty sure I heard the interviewee say the research will use GMO technology; but check the link and listen for yourself.
In a conversation last week, I heard a passionate farm extension agent in the Northeastern United States share the results of many years of tomato flavor analysis, comparing favorite varieties of commercial tomatoes, heirlooms, and anything new and promising. He said: “It seems the closer a scientist is to the plant breeding process, the less they seem to be focused on flavor qualities.”
That may sound odd at first. But it’s consistent with where the seed industry has traveled since World War II. That’s why we have a resurgence in heirloom varieties. If people keep on buying and planting heirloom varieties, and screaming for better flavor in their store bought tomatoes, it will continue to make a difference. We’ll be seeing combinations of heirlooms, wilds, and more commercial varieties, seeking to produce that tomato with the flavor we love, AND decent enough yields and disease resistance to allow growers to produce them profitably. They’re already available.
More about the author
Michael Rozyne has been a marketer of small farm products for three decades. He worked on conventional and organic farms in Maine, and was Purchaser and Marketer for a regional food distributor in New England. He was cofounder of the fair trade coffee company, Equal Exchange. He started Red Tomato in 1996 and is now RT’s Co-Director. He lives with his partner Kimberly and two daughters in Middleborough, Massachusetts.
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