RE: RADSAFE digest 3058

["Neil, David M" <neildm@id.doe.gov>]

Amen.  In college, I worked a season in a tomato packing house.  The
tomatoes that go to the stores as "ripe" were the color of a Granny Smith
apple when they went through the packing line.  Then they were stored in an
airtight cooler the size of a basketball court until they were about to be
shipped.  24 hours before shipping, the cooler was flooded with ethylene gas
(ethylene oxide?). This caused the tomatoes to turn red by the time they
reached the market.

The ones sold as "vine ripened" start out pale green (the balance of
chloroplasts vs carotenoids shifts) and go through the same process.

Any trace of red, and the tomato goes out the waste chute.

Dave Neil		neildm@id.doe.gov

Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was
on, but it was moving very fast.

On Monday, April 03, 2000 4:11 PM, Holloway3@aol.com
[SMTP:Holloway3@aol.com] wrote:
> 
> <<   Don't think preservative methods or 
>  insecticides change the tastes of foods---------compare an organically
grown 
>  tomato to one grown with fertilizers and pesticides----------most notice
a 
>  big difference. >>
> 
> The taste difference in the case of the tomato is more likely due to the 
> variety of tomato, rather than the presence or absence of pesticides or 
> whether it was grown with commercial fertilizer.  The average tomato 
> available in supermarkets is quite often a variety that has been developed
to 
> endure shipping, rather than for taste.  They usually taste like wet 
> baseballs.  Organically grown tomatoes may taste better simply because
they 
> are from varities that have not been developed mainly for shipping.  There
is 
> a big difference in the taste of tomatoes and I would rather have a home 
> grown one anytime.  
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