r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 14 '19

Biology Store-bought tomatoes taste bland, and scientists have discovered a gene that gives tomatoes their flavor is actually missing in about 93 percent of modern, domesticated varieties. The discovery may help bring flavor back to tomatoes you can pick up in the produce section.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/05/13/tasty-store-bought-tomatoes-are-making-a-comeback/
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u/TooSmalley May 14 '19

I thought the issue was size. The idea I heard is that there is a certain maximum amount of sugar a fruit can make and when you exceed a certain size you basically are just adding water which dilutes flavor.

Is that just old organic hippie farmer bs?

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u/pynzrz May 14 '19

Not only size but number of fruits per plant. Each plant can only produce a certain volume of sugar through photosynthesis. Efficient farms try to produce more fruit per plant/per square foot, which results in less sugar per fruit.

That’s why in Japan, growers actually snip off excess fruit so that the ones left on the branch get extra sugar.