Never liked raw tomatos until grape tomatos

[masraum]

I've never liked raw tomatoes, not on a sandwich or in a salad or any other way. I've tried them many times over the years and just never liked them.

Sometime in the last ~10 years, I had the opportunity to try grape tomatoes, and I thought those were actually really tasty. I had previously tried cherry tomatoes and didn't like those. I can't put my finger on what about grape tomatoes that I liked. I can only assume the flavor, or maybe a combination of flavor and texture, I'm not sure.


The other day we were at Whole Foods and they had these marketed as a "grape tomato medley". To me they look like a combination of grape and cherry tomatos. We needed tomatoes for a recipe, so I got them. These were also very tasty.


I have heard in the past that tomatos have been bred/grown to be uniform in size, shape, and color, and in the process, all of the flavor was bred out of them. I don't know.

My D-i-L seems to think that's the deal with the grape tomatoes, that they still have flavor that was bred out of the big ones.

[Evans, Marv]

I get a tray of Campari tomatoes every time I go to Costco. They're about half or more the size of a golf ball. They're the only tomatoes that have real tomato flavor. For some reason, the grape and cherry tomatoes aren't as flavorful to me. I really like the flavor of fresh, raw tomatoes with a bit of salt on them, but most tomatoes just taste like a bag of water.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I get a tray of Campari tomatoes every time I go to Costco. They're about half or more the size of a golf ball. They're the only tomatoes that have real tomato flavor. For some reason, the grape and cherry tomatoes aren't as flavorful to me. I really like the flavor of fresh, raw tomatoes with a bit of salt on them, but most tomatoes just taste like a bag of water.

Shaun posted about those in a thread that I had on tomato sauce. I have seen them in a store at least once, but haven't bought any. I'll have to give those a try.

That's what my DiL was saying was that when she was a kid and had access to garden grown tomatos, her and her sister would eat them with a little salt, but that the stuff that you get in stores these days is "gross". She thinks the grape tomatoes are like the tomatoes that she remembers eating. I've tried some garden grown tomatoes over the years, and didn't like them, but I'm sure that's down to the fact that there's lots of different types, and garden grown modern hybrids may just be fresher crappy tomatoes.

I'll check out the Camparis the next time that I see them.

[john70t]

If you can find beefsteaks at a farmer's market, get it ripe on the counter and then thick slice with Mozzarella, fresh basil, thin onion, good whole grain bread and baked.
S&P and a little garlic powder optional.

[JackDidley]

iI like to snack on grape tomatoes. Every spring I grow a couple plants from seeds. It is really nice to keep a bowl in the fridge to snack on. Always fresh and just ripe. I dont even grow the big ones.

[Crowbob]

You can’t beat popping one of those sugar bombs into your mouth all heated up and warm by the harvest sun.

I’ll once on a while wrap one up in fresh-picked Basel and almost fall over from flavor…

[Bill Douglas]

Yeah, very nice.

I started buying them because they looked nicer sliced up on pizzas, but now I eat them as my favourite tomato. Not acidy too.

[look 171]

I eat them all the time. Super sweet and tasty, not cheap

[flatbutt]

Snacking on a tomato off of my vines in the sun is a truly tasty treat. This year I grew cherry, plum and beefsteak.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by masraum

I'll check out the Camparis the next time that I see them.

I let mine set for a few days and ripen more, which intensifies the flavor. I just mostly cut them in half, put a little salt on them & pop them in my mouth. I have to refrain from popping too many at a time. I think I'll go pop a couple right now.

[masraum]

Good to know that I'm not alone.

[Tobra]

Sungold, the little orange ones.

Trust me on this one

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Sungold, the little orange ones.

Trust me on this one

Oh yeah I grew those last year. My granddaughter raided them like a locust.

[Tobra]

When the oldest grandkid was 3 I had a fairly ridiculous vegetable garden. There was only one of them then and he was not doing martial arts yet, so my weekends and evenings were still wide open.

He came over and I needed to pick a bunch of tomatoes, because I had a dozen various small tomato plants, red, orange and yellow ones, little pear shaped ones, the whole magilla. He says he does not like tomatoes, but since I am picking them, and he wants to hang out with me, he gets a little plastic container to put them in too. I have about a half gallon of them, and he only has a couple of the yellow ones in his. Hour later his mother picks him up. Shortly after that she is on the phone, wanting to know what I did to her kid, he is crapping orange and it has little pieces of stuff that I presume were the peels, but probably looked like the lining of his intestines were coming out to her. She was not happy

Moral of the story, do not let a 25 pound kid eat little orange tomatoes unsupervised.

Be advised, there is a corollary to this that includes mandarin oranges, fresh squeezed orange juice, cherries, peaches and various other delicious items.

[john70t]

Next time feed him beets Nice story lol.

[wdfifteen]

I grew Amish Gold yellow tomatoes this year for the first time. They are now my go-to fresh tomato. I have not been a fan of grape tomatoes I've tried, but there are a dozen or so varieties, all with their unique flavor.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Oh yeah I grew those last year. My granddaughter raided them like a locust.

LOL! That paints an amusing mental image.

Originally Posted by Tobra

When the oldest grandkid was 3 I had a fairly ridiculous vegetable garden. There was only one of them then and he was not doing martial arts yet, so my weekends and evenings were still wide open.

He came over and I needed to pick a bunch of tomatoes, because I had a dozen various small tomato plants, red, orange and yellow ones, little pear shaped ones, the whole magilla. He says he does not like tomatoes, but since I am picking them, and he wants to hang out with me, he gets a little plastic container to put them in too. I have about a half gallon of them, and he only has a couple of the yellow ones in his. Hour later his mother picks him up. Shortly after that she is on the phone, wanting to know what I did to her kid, he is crapping orange and it has little pieces of stuff that I presume were the peels, but probably looked like the lining of his intestines were coming out to her. She was not happy

Moral of the story, do not let a 25 pound kid eat little orange tomatoes unsupervised.

Be advised, there is a corollary to this that includes mandarin oranges, fresh squeezed orange juice, cherries, peaches and various other delicious items.

Great, story, hilarious. I have 2 grandsons that are 4 and 7. The 7yo won't eat pretty much any fruit and few veggies. The 4yo has always loved pretty much any fruit or veggie, but now that he's the age he is, he's beginning to mimic his big brother more, "I don't like that" when he really does. I need to grow some of those next year for the kids to try.

Originally Posted by john70t

Next time feed him beets Nice story lol.

LOL! That would be something. He'd be in the ER for internal bleeding.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I grew Amish Gold yellow tomatoes this year for the first time. They are now my go-to fresh tomato. I have not been a fan of grape tomatoes I've tried, but there are a dozen or so varieties, all with their unique flavor.

Nice! Some are certainly better than others.