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Comment by optymizer | Hacker News Reader

I'm a big fan of tomatoes - we used to grow them at home in Europe, and I swear to you I have found 0 tasty tomatoes in the US, aside from this one tomato that my friend's boss grew in his garden, which tasted almost like a tomato should. Sometimes I feel like entire generations of people in the US don't know what a good tomato tastes like because they've never had a proper tomato.

I find the tomatoes in US stores bland and watery. They must be collected when green and ripe on the truck or in the store. I even grew my own tomatoes here from organic seeds and they ended up being just mildly better tasting than store-bought tomatoes. What happened to the tomatoes in the US?

Can someone demystify this for me: where are all the good US tomatoes at?

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> I find the tomatoes in US stores bland and watery. They must be collected when green and ripe on the truck or in the store.

I once read somewhere that many commercial tomato varieties have lost their flavor because they have only been selected for appearance (red/flawless). But I don't know if that is true.

Luckily I found that here in Europe, recently, there have been very flavorful cherry tomatoes in the grocery stores again, but they cost between 6 to 7 euro/kilo (the watery ones around half the price.)

In selecting delicious cherry tomatoes, I observed two criteria:

1) they'll have a somewhat rough surface, rather than smooth - like little particles

2) they'll often have little yellow dots at the top around the stem

Like most veggies sold in grocery stories in the US, the varieties are engineered to line up with the supply chain needs. Tastier heirloom tomatoes tend to not do as well in transport, or don't last as long on the shelf, or whatever other reason.

As is already suggested, the good US tomatoes and fruit in general can be found at farmer's markets, local farms, and/or local grocery stores that have relationships with local farmers. Also, a lot of smaller local farms that grow tastier veggies tend to supply to locally sourced farm-to-table type restaurants directly instead of selling them in stores,

My parents get their tomatoes from a local hydroponics farm that only sells straight from the farm (in the middle of nowhere), and in bulk to local restaurants.

> where are all the good US tomatoes at?

At the farmer's market. Look for heirloom tomatoes. I get them during the summer from either the farmer's market or a food cooperative in the Seattle area (PCC). Heirloom tomatoes are the only tomatoes I tasted on this continent that are on par with the tomatoes my parents grow in their garden in Europe.

Farmers markets and home gardens are where you find the tomatoes you are thinking of, rather than chain retailers. The produce you see in the stores are developed to be shipped in. Heirloom varieties are too fragile, even in the farmers market the tomatoes at the bottoms of the piles will be damaged from the weight of those above.

If you can find a good Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, they'll give you good tomatoes. Granted you'll also get a bunch of other vegetables but it's good quality and saves you from having to buy groceries from July to November. I've had tomatoes from a CSA that tasted like candy.

McSweeney's has a not-inaccurate take on the joys of CSA membership: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-about-your-csa

Fairly accurate, though I love CSAs (and I suspect this is a loving parody by the author).

What I find especially funny is

> What the hell am I supposed to do with all these turnips?

Do people really not know what to do with turnips? Turnips are amazing- roast them, put them in soups, they're great. Now radishes, on the other hand, those are a mystery to me.

Not sure what to do with turnips, but let's fix this radish situation right now.

Radishes are awesome! I like to eat them raw with just a bit of salt, but for a general cooking frame of reference, you can use radishes anywhere you would use a cucumber.

Here's some salads I like to make with radishes:

    ========================
    = default radish salad =
    ========================
    * radishes (thin round slices)
    * chopped scallions
    * dill (a lot)
    * salt
    * pepper
    * olive oil
    * chopped fresh parsley (optional)

    From here you have a few options:
    1. just add some vinegar and/or a bit of lemon
    2. for a tzatziki-like route, use lemon, garlic and greek yogurt. Cucumbers are totally optional here (the salad becomes more watery).


    ========================
    = poor-man's cole slaw =
    ========================
    * cole slaw without the mayo
    * add thinly sliced radishes


    =======================================
    = tomato salad loaded with vegetables =
    =======================================
    * thick sliced tomatoes (1/2 inch cubes or pyramid-like shape)
    * onions
    * sliced cucumbers
    * diced red bell pepper
    * thinly sliced or diced radishes
    * olive oil
    * salt
    * pepper
    * half a dozen kalamata/black olives
    * greek feta sliced into 1 inch cubes
    * chopped fresh parsley (optional)

    Dip sourdough bread into the tomato juice at the bottom to get to heaven.

That last salad recipe seems mouth-watering. Ugh (speaking to myself). I must make salads more often. So fast and easy too.

When in doubt, ferment them! Turnips and radishes both ferment really well. Just make a 2% brine, i.e. weigh the turnips and the water used to cover them, then add 2% of that weight in salt. Put in a clean jar or even a plastic container and check every day. I add some garlic, chili peppers, etc.

I think you meant "pickle"?

Well I'm pickling them by fermenting! You can pickle with vinegar too.

A lot of people in the US don't like tomatoes as well. One of my friends told me he hated them until he moved to another country and then found out what they were supposed to taste like.

The only good tomatoes I've had in the US come from friends' gardens.

This is the case in Sweden as well. The regular tomatoes in the store does just taste like water. The small ones are just slightly better.

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