Have you noticed that tomatoes on the market are less tasty?

According to Discover Magazine people, tomato growers are sacrificing the taste of the fruit in the name of aesthetics. Anyone who has had the privilege of tasting a naturally grown tomato must have noticed the difference in taste compared to those sold in the markets, which are red and bright but with dull taste.

As Ann Powell of the University of California explained, by selecting ripe tomatoes that are not only beautiful, but also more uniform in shape and color, growers are actually selecting fruits that have been mutated to make them more attractive but more attractive. It also affects your taste.

Mutant tomatoes

According to the researcher, non-industrialized tomatoes, that is, those that are planted in the backyard and are not as perfect as those we see in the markets, usually have a ripening process in which their colors are much less uniform. In fact, they have a darker shade of green near the stalk and are lighter at the bottom.

On the other hand, mutant tomatoes have a fairly uniform light green coloration, and the genetic mutation they suffered causes their chlorophyll production to be impaired. And it is during photosynthesis that fruits convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and sugar, making tomatoes tasty.

The good news is that the researcher identified the group of genes that mutated and was able, in part, to get around the taste problem. Powell “transplanted” a healthy gene into mutant tomatoes and improved lycopene, the red-fruit substance. With this minor correction, the researcher hopes to solve the problem of tomato production so that they are attractive and tasty at the same time, on a large scale.

Sources: University of California and Discover Magazine