Coincidentally, the question you asked actually bothered me for a long time, because I am also a serious tomato lover! A few years ago, like you, I didn't understand why no one sold such delicious traditional tomatoes, but they tasted bad!
Traditional tomato seeds have been discontinued! Later, during my work, I met an authoritative person in the field of tomato breeding in China. After work, I think he expressed his doubts. He smiled and told me that it was because of the seeds!
Specifically, there are almost no traditional tomato seeds on the market at present. If you go to the agricultural market to buy tomato seeds, you will find that traditional tomatoes are no longer on the market, and even traditional tomato seeds have been stopped, even if you want to plant them.
Are hard fruits that are resistant to storage and extrusion! When I was still in a daze, he said unhurriedly, this still depends on the market. After all, hard fruit is more resistant to long-distance transportation, farmers are more willing to plant it, and vendors are more willing to sell it. Slowly, traditional tomatoes are gradually squeezed out of the mainstream market, and it is difficult to buy them through general channels!
Now tomatoes are more suitable for market sales! The author listened to the introduction of this expert. In fact, the popularity of this kind of hard fruit tomato is actually a helpless move. Therefore, although the traditional tomato tastes outstanding and is very popular with consumers, its shortcomings are also obvious, that is, it is not resistant to transportation and storage, and it is easy to be bruised and rotted.
Think about it, the risk faced by vegetable farmers who grow traditional tomatoes is far greater than that of planting hard fruit tomatoes! Because traditional tomatoes are easy to be bruised and rotted in the process of picking, transporting and trading, friends who have experience in planting and buying tomatoes should know that it is even more dangerous if they catch up with the weather a little.
Therefore, vegetable farmers and vegetable vendors are willing to plant and sell this kind of hard fruit tomato in order to ensure the income and reduce the risk!
Consumers have no choice but to accept.
In the final analysis, the change of tomato flavor is due to the circulation environment of tomato varieties (long-distance transportation) and the change of production technology, which finally changes the taste of tomatoes. 1. The change of tomato varieties makes many flavor genes missing.
2. With the extensive use of chemicals, soil organic matter is decreasing, and tomatoes are picked and matured in advance, which also prevents tomatoes from forming many flavor substances.
Tomatoes and non-tomatoes taste different, which may be the epitome of an era memory. Tomatoes are sweet in acid and sour in sweetness. They are the perfect thirst-quenching products in summer that many people remember. Holding a large tomato with uneven color and a little yellow in his hand, he opened his mouth and burst juice, and the soft and rustling pulp melted in his mouth. But with the passage of time, tomatoes have changed, each one is round and red, but there is only one shape left, no pulp, hollow, no juice, maybe a little sour, and even green seeds can be seen. Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs may require adding a ladle of water to the pot. Where's the smell of tomatoes? We must know about tomatoes, or what changes have taken place in this agriculture during the global village era.
Green Revolution The term "green revolution" originally only refers to the popularization of agricultural technology and chemical agents, especially chemical pesticides and fertilizers. In 1960s, some western developed countries promoted high-yield grain varieties and agricultural technologies (pesticides and fertilizers) to parts of Asia, Africa and South America, which was a technological reform activity to promote their grain production. However, it leads to the extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and soil degradation.
Not only grains, but all crops have changed their original appearance in this wave. With the promotion of chemicals and mechanization, the seeds of agricultural production are constantly cultivated in the direction of higher yield. In order to solve the problem of circulating hormones, the production cycle of crops is changed, or other characteristics are changed to adapt (such as hard fruit in tomatoes), so as to solve the circulation problem. And these may often be incomprehensible to consumers. The tomato you eat is not the original tomato at all.
What happened to tomatoes? 1. Variety change
No matter how many tomatoes are called in the market, they are only divided into hard fruit tomatoes and soft fruit tomatoes for production. Both have their own advantages. Hard fruit tomatoes are resistant to storage and transportation and can be sliced, such as sliced tomatoes used in many fast foods. The fruit is soft, juicy, delicious and not resistant to transportation. Hard fruit tomatoes are often the first choice in the whole production process and seed' improvement' because of poor circulation, storage and transportation. After all, consumers can only touch hard fruit tomatoes. In the past, the space for commodity circulation was smaller than now. Therefore, the advantage of juicy and delicious soft fruit tomatoes has become a strong character of artificially selected varieties (producers).
2. Application of chemicals
There is nothing wrong with the tools themselves, but the changes in the production process and habits caused by the changes in tools have changed the quality of agricultural products. Effect of ripening agent on tomato flavor quality In essence, as long as the whole process can grow naturally, the flavor quality of hard fruit and soft fruit tomatoes is good. But in order to pursue the demand of output and annual supply, hormones come in handy here. Compared with natural ripening tomatoes, tomatoes using ripening technology will lose their development in the whole process, whether in the early stage of flower preservation or in the late stage of ripening. Compared with naturally ripe tomatoes, the contents of vitamin C and lycopene in ripe fruits will be significantly reduced. These two substances accumulated rapidly in the late ripening stage of tomato. With the extensive use of chemical fertilizers, the soil structure has changed, the organic matter has been declining, and the quality (flavor) of agricultural products has also been affected.
Huang Sanwen, a researcher at Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genomics, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Harry Klee, a professor at the University of Florida, formed a joint research team of 20 people. After more than four years of cooperative research, the flavor control mechanism of tomato was finally discovered. The research team organized 170 people's "tasting group" and conducted many rigorous tasting experiments on more than 100 kinds of tomatoes. Using data model analysis, 33 main flavor substances affecting consumers' preferences were identified, including glucose, fructose, citric acid, malic acid and 29 volatile substances, which revealed the material basis of tomato flavor.
The research team further found that the reason why "tomatoes have no previous taste" is that in the process of modern breeding, too much attention is paid to commodity quality such as yield and appearance, which leads to the loss of some gene loci controlling flavor quality, which leads to a significant decrease in the content of 13 flavor substances in modern tomato varieties, and ultimately leads to a decline in tomato taste.
The selection of tomato varieties in the intermediate links such as transportation and sales has become the decisive factor in the tomato industry chain, not the consumers themselves. Soft fruit tomatoes are difficult to transport, because they are soft, so they are easy to break when they collide; However, hard fruit tomatoes have less water content and are more solid, which is suitable for long-distance transportation. And with the application of ripening technology, tomatoes can be picked, transported and marketed before they are ripe. However, this ripening process will affect the conversion of starch to sugar. About 80% sugar in tomato fruit comes from leaves and is transferred to the fruit in the later stage. Picking in advance will affect the formation of sugar, so the taste will also be affected.
In addition, the use of chemical fertilizers will also affect the taste of tomatoes. Potassium is an important chemical element that affects the taste of tomatoes, but in China, the utilization rate of nitrogen fertilizer is much higher than that of potassium fertilizer, because nitrogen fertilizer takes effect faster.
In the final analysis, the change of tomato flavor is due to the circulation environment of tomato varieties (long-distance transportation) and the change of production technology, which finally changes the taste of tomatoes.
1. The change of tomato varieties makes many flavor genes missing.
2. With the extensive use of chemicals, soil organic matter is decreasing, and tomatoes are picked and matured in advance, which also prevents tomatoes from forming many flavor substances.
Early tomatoes are sour and juicy, which is more suitable for raw food. In summer, it is a good dish to cut a little and sprinkle some sugar. Why are there so few sour and juicy tomatoes now, and all the tomatoes sold in the market are tasteless and hard? Mainly for the following reasons.
First of all, the change of cultivated varieties is the main reason. In order to pursue varieties with strong disease resistance and high yield, breeders lost a large number of high-quality genes in the long-term breeding process, resulting in poor quality of a large number of tomato varieties. At the same time, what varieties farmers grow is also determined by market demand. In the past, farmers planted tomatoes and sold them in the market. Now many of them are wholesale to small vendors. Small vendors don't like tomatoes with soft sweet and sour juice. First of all, they can't afford long-distance transportation. Second, when you get to the market, you are picked away. The rest are basically injured and can only be sold at a low price. Third, they can't stand storage. If you can't sell it in a day or two, it's easy to collapse. But if it is a hard tomato, these problems do not exist. In order to meet the market demand, most farmers grow hard tomatoes.
Second, it is affected by the picking period. In order to increase the selling time (fully ripe tomatoes are not storable), most tomatoes sold in the market are picked when they are not fully ripe. At this time, the content of soluble solids in tomato fruit decreased, turned sour and unpalatable. Although it will ripen itself slowly after picking, its taste is far lower than that of fully ripe ones.
The third kind is caused by chemical ripening. In order to go public early and sell at a good price, some farmers will choose to use hormones to ripen. Tomatoes with ripening agent are red in skin, but green inside after cutting. Because it is immature, of course it is not delicious.
It takes about 30 days for outdoor tomatoes to ripen naturally, so that they have a taste. Now all the tomatoes we eat are picked when they are still green, and then ripened and turned red, which is definitely tasteless. In addition, there is a big difference between using organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer.
As a vegetable worker, I will answer this question. First of all, let me introduce that in the process of vegetable production, tomato production will basically not lose money (it is not easy to dig some money from the ground). There are many vegetables in the popular menu, which are suitable for all ages. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes is the most basic dish that many people learn.
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Why are tomatoes basically not losing money? I think on the one hand, it is the need of the market, on the other hand, it also plays a necessary and important role, that is, the tomatoes have hardened now. Why does it harden? As the teacher said in class, the ethylene synthesis pathway in tomatoes is destroyed, that is, ethylene used to ripen tomatoes cannot be synthesized. I don't know exactly how to do it. Just as pepper is sterile due to natural differences, gene mutation or deletion may also lead to infertility. With this kind of parents who can make tomatoes hard (effectively prolong the decay time), breeders will rely on the goal of hard breeding. A pursuit of hard, ignoring the taste, resulting in our tomatoes have no taste, no sand. This can be said to be the result of breeding objectives, but also the result of market circulation, because the market needs tomatoes with long shelf life, without considering the needs of consumers.
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These are the reasons why I personally think tomatoes are hard and tasteless.
But can't we eat the tomatoes we used to eat? The answer is yes, absolutely edible. This problem is not only discovered by consumers, but also by breeders. I don't remember which university or research institute in our country published an article in nature or science saying that the gene for controlling tomato flavor was found. In other words, this problem has attracted everyone's attention and is looking back.
Moreover, in rural areas, farmers who have always insisted on growing tomatoes for their own use still hold traditional tomatoes in their hands. As long as you look carefully, you can definitely find the seeds, but the yield is hard to say, and so is the benefit. After all, TV viruses are prone to occur in the process of tomato planting, which is why we see that foreign tomato seeds are so expensive, the basic price is 50 cents, and the wholesale price will not be less than 25 cents. I bought many farmers' own seeds on a treasure, hoping to find delicious varieties. The land I grow is only for my own consumption, so I can control the application of pesticides. Be careful, after all, the child is still young.
Everyone has a balcony at home, so you can plant some yourself. Tomato can be divided into finite growth type and infinite growth type. Balcony is suitable for life-limited type, which is long and short and easy to manage. Interested friends can trust me privately.
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This phenomenon is largely caused by the varieties and cultivation methods of cultivated tomatoes. Sour and juicy tomatoes are not gone, but rarely appear in the market. Personally, I think a big reason is long-distance transportation.
Anyone who has planted tomatoes knows that, in most cases, it is not red and ripe tomatoes that are picked, but red and unripe tomatoes, and those ripe tomatoes are often thrown into fertile fields or fed to pigs or sold to nearby places that do not need long-distance transportation. Because ripe tomatoes are soft and not resistant to transportation, they will be damaged and moldy during long-distance transportation. Therefore, most of the tomatoes in major supermarkets are hard, and the unripe tomatoes are not ripe, so the sugar in the fruit will be little and tasteless, which is more suitable for cooking (how to make green tomatoes turn red? Spraying a little phytohormone can accelerate the aging and ripening of fruits. This is a work in itself. Most of the tomatoes we used to eat were shipped and sold by nearby farmers, which are more mature and may taste better.
This is for transportation needs, and a major problem lies in the variety of tomatoes. Tomatoes have different uses, such as fruits, vegetables and ketchup. Different uses have spawned different varieties. For example, tomatoes that make ketchup are very sour. In order to solve many problems, different varieties of tomatoes also have different characteristics, and they are more and more resistant to transportation and storage. For example, a tomato called "stone tomato" can be stored for two months, and it is still hard, neither soft nor rotten, but its taste is not satisfactory.
Another reason is the way of planting. In the past, most tomatoes were grown by small farmers themselves, and there was not much scientific management in them. Nothing more than applying some medicine when they are sick. If they don't grow well, they will apply some fertilizer. Even if there is no money to buy pesticides and fertilizers, it will pass. Nowadays, many are scientifically managed planting methods, some are planted in greenhouses, and there are standards for when to apply how much fertilizer and how much medicine to apply. Under this scientific management mode, the output is improved, but the quality will decline.
Yes, as a housewife, it is natural to buy vegetables every day, but every time I go to the vegetable market, the tomatoes I buy are as hard as the subject said, and some tomatoes are as talented as wood.
The reason is that I asked the vendors who buy vegetables, and they replied that vegetable farmers now use chemical fertilizers, pesticides and so on. In order to increase the yield in the process of planting, the tomatoes planted in this way will lose their original taste and taste very bad. But the price will be relatively cheaper. Such persimmons are only suitable for frying and stewing, not for eating raw.
My classmate has been planting greenhouse vegetables for many years, and I am also a frequent visitor to her home. When vegetables are ripe, I am the first person to enjoy them. My classmates also reserved some vegetables without pesticides for me. This vegetable is really delicious, but its value is not very good. I told her that if all the vegetables ripened naturally, it would be nice not to apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Students bluntly say: everyone should do something against his conscience for the benefit. For example, we vegetable farmers know that applying chemical fertilizer is not good for our health, but in order to yield more fruits, we can only add a certain amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides according to the regulations, and the taste of such fruits is definitely not as good as that of natural ripening.
The classmate's family planted half a shed of naturally ripe tomatoes, and only received people from the farm to pick them. The price is 6 yuan per catty, but not many people pick it. Every Saturday and Sunday, she stays in the shed and waits for the city people to pick it, but at the end of the day she can only sell it for about 100 yuan. This kind of income is really not as good as those tomatoes that are pushed to the farmer's market with chemical fertilizer.
Everything is for the maximum benefit, and so are tomato growers. Therefore, there will be goods in the market.
A little older people may have this experience: taking a bite of a burst tomato with a strong taste is now very bad. Some people complain that "tomatoes nowadays don't have the taste of childhood". In addition to the psychological factors of nostalgia, this feeling is indeed due to variety.
The level of vegetable breeding in China is far from the advanced level abroad, and the gap is narrowing, but it is unrealistic to catch up in a short time. As for tomato varieties, we have introduced many new varieties from abroad. In fact, some of these varieties are planted as processed tomatoes abroad. This kind of processed variety requires unified commercial requirements such as maturity and storage and transportation resistance. For example, tomatoes in western countries are mainly used to process ketchup, and the proportion of fresh food is very small.
Studies have confirmed that the reason why "tomato has no previous taste" appears is that in the process of modern breeding, too much attention is paid to commodity quality such as yield and appearance, which leads to the loss of some gene loci controlling flavor quality, which leads to a significant decline in the content of 13 flavor substances in modern tomato varieties, and ultimately leads to a decline in tomato taste.
Whether it is delicious or not is the "flavor" of food. "Flavor" is not like easily quantifiable breeding traits such as yield, disease resistance, shape and color-you can feel it but you can't see it. A "tasting group" of 170 people organized by the above-mentioned researchers conducted a large number of tasting experiments on hundreds of kinds of tomatoes (I don't know if eating them hurts ...), and analyzed and determined 33 main flavor substances that affect consumers' preferences, including glucose, fructose, citric acid, malic acid and 29 volatile substances.
As in the past, it is really difficult to buy tomatoes in the market now. I remember when I was a child in my hometown, I planted cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, beans and other vegetables in my garden. When it's ripe, take it off and wash it.
My own vegetables are all ripe, and the taste is very pure. It makes my mouth water when I think about it.
However, you can't buy such delicious tomatoes in the market at present. They all feel hard, and most of them are red outside and blue inside, and they are not fully mature. No way, this is also a kind of helplessness.
Reasons why tomatoes flow to the market before they are fully ripe: Transportation considerations: For transportation considerations, tomatoes in greenhouses in winter or tomatoes in season can only be picked when they are not fully ripe, which is convenient for loading and transportation. Otherwise, when the ripe tomatoes are picked, there will be a lot of loss during transportation, and they will all be broken after the bumps on the road.
No enterprise, whether it is a vegetable farmer or an enterprise, can bear such a huge loss.
Precautions for storage: In addition, it takes time for tomatoes to be picked, transported to wholesalers and then transported to small vendors in the market. It is impossible to sell them all at once. There will be a storage time in the middle. If it is a mature tomato, it will rot before storage, which is really a kind of helplessness.
For these reasons, it is difficult for us to eat ripe tomatoes, as are many vegetables and fruits.
Immature tomatoes, the impact on nutritional components, not only the taste of immature tomatoes is poor, but also the impact on nutritional components is great.
Tomatoes mainly contain vitamins and lycopene, especially vitamin C, and another important nutrient is lycopene. Vitamin C is no problem. Other foods are relatively easy to obtain, but tomatoes are the most abundant in lycopene. More importantly, the higher the maturity of tomato, the higher the lycopene content.
Lycopene is an important antioxidant, which has a strong antioxidant effect, can resist free radicals in the human body, prevent aging, sterilize, resist inflammation, prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and resist tumors. People pay more and more attention to its antioxidant function. Unfortunately, without ripe tomatoes, the content of lycopene will decrease.
Looking forward to the progress of science and technology and producing more green and natural organic food, we have to accept the reality that we can only eat some uncooked vegetables and fruits. Look at some developed countries, which are better than us in this respect. Real green and pure natural organic vegetables and fruits, although expensive, are relatively convenient to buy.
We can only look forward to the progress of science and technology and the further development of society. One day, we can also eat more pure green organic food at any time to make our health by going up one flight of stairs.
Thank you: I have been planting tomatoes professionally for 20 years. I used to grow a conventional tomato variety, which is soft and juicy, sweet and sour, and delicious when eaten raw. The height of the plant is less than one meter, but the main disadvantages are thin skin, inconvenient transportation, easy breakage and low commodity rate, so fewer and fewer people plant it. However, what is planted now is Israeli stone tomato, or a hybrid of local varieties and Israeli stone tomato, which has thick skin, high hardness, transportation resistance and poor raw taste, but has high yield, high commodity rate and plant height of more than 2 meters.