Kind of tomato on a whopper

[darwinslair]

just the storage temp alone would destroy the taste.

Tom

[travis]

That case indicates a size of the tomatoes - 6 x 7. The variety is immaterial.
Try this for Florida tomato sizing:

http://www.ipt.us.com/produce-defect...omatoes-sizing

[ContainerTed]

Got this from a manager over in Morristown. It is a hard red tomato that weighs just under 4 ounces. The texture is very firm while somewhat mealy and is not very juicy. It's like a small version of the cardboard types that Wally World sells. The taste was about a 4 or 5 (which is where I rate the ones that are just edible. Even a touch of salt didn't help this one. It was fairly obvious to me that this one had been gassed to even out its color. It is also plain to me that this tomato needed to be eaten on something like a burger which would mask the taste. But that degrades the flavor of the burger.

Anyhow, here's some pictures, and yes, I kept some of the less than 50 seeds in it
.

[sirtanon]

Interesting report.. but not unexpected. I'd be curious to see what those seeds produced, although only somewhat. Do you plan to grow any of them?

[ContainerTed]

Probably grow one plant. We'll have to see if any of the seeds were mature enough before the fruit got gas'd. Always interesting, but I don't think I'm going to put a lot of effort into it. My main curiosity is whether or not the tomato has any taste improvement when grown to ripe on the vine.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Probably grow one plant. We'll have to see if any of the seeds were mature enough before the fruit got gas'd. Always interesting, but I don't think I'm going to put a lot of effort into it. My main curiosity is whether or not the tomato has any taste improvement when grown to ripe on the vine.

Ted, don't you think that the fruit and seeds you liberated, as it were, were from an F1 hybrid. I do, so who knows what you'll get with those F2 seeds.

The seeds wouldn't be affected by the gassing since they use ethylene gas which is normally produced by every single fruit as part of the ripening process and is produced internally, which sets off a series of enzymes produced in the ripening prcoess.

Same idea as those those who put unripe fruits in a bag with a cut piece of apple or similar, b'c the cut apple increases the same gas production in the bag. So what you end up with, starting form a nice fruit from a good variety, is a gassed fruit that you could buy at the store.

[jennifer28]

I'm interested in your project, Ted. I always like to see what happens with different seeds that I save. I am experimenting this year with some seed from some cocktail tomatoes that my sister bought at Whole Foods. Since they are grown in a greenhouse, I am expecting the fruit to get a hard white core due to the temperature fluctuations that happen where I live. But we will just have to see what this growing season brings. I suppose I could grow them in a bucket in my classroom, too, but I really want to put my resources into growing seeds that we really want. I just like to experiment. Let us know what you find from your experiment.

[rnewste]

Geez,

I don't know what you guys are complaining about. Here are the ones our local Burger King serve:



So what's the problem???

Raybo

[RichardB.]

I thought they tasted goog with a whopper, I was just asking what kind they were!

[Keiththibodeaux]

I remember reading about the Tasti-Lee tomato. Having eaten far more Whoppers than I care to admit, I am pretty sure the variety is the Tasteless-Lee tomato.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Keiththibodeaux

I remember reading about the Tasti-Lee tomato. Having eaten far more Whoppers than I care to admit, I am pretty sure the variety is the Tasteless-Lee tomato.

Tasti-Lee was bred by Dr. Jay Scott at the U of FL and while there's been advance hoopla about it I know it didn't become available until this year, at least for home growers. I know TGS has it in their 2012 catalog/website but didn't check for other seed sources.

Since most of the commercial catalogs are not available online, I wonder if there's even been time for large scale commercial growers to even use it for wholesale sales to other places.

Ah well, bring thy own maters with you if preparing burgers and you won't be disappointed, even the hydroponic ones from Canada that are sold in stores here aren't all that bad.

[saltmarsh]

I think carolyn may be on to something, but let's try a different approach.

Close your eyes and remember the best tomato you've ever tasted. Remember the flavor. Remember the texture. Remember the subtle undertones. Practice remembering. Now each time you bite into a burger, ignore what your nose and tongue are telling you and concentrate on remembering that best tomato flavor.

Now practice remembering what that What-a-Burger tasted like. Claud

[ContainerTed]

Carolyn, the odds of this being an F-1 hybrid are extremely good. Also, tomatoes of this size with that small stem connection have a good chance of being "Greenhouse" tomatoes. This particular tomato (in the pictures) is the typical commercial "hard, mealy, tasteless" cardboard type that you can find at any of the supermarkets this time of year.

Last year, I grew out some seeds from a tomato I found at Walmart. It's the kind they sell that still has the truss attached. They had tasted pretty good (better than anything else for sale at the time), so I wanted to see how they would do if allowed to ripen on the vine. To my surprise, it definitely improved. My brother had two plants that he loved. The tomatoes were about 4-5 ozs and beautiful, round, red. So, this year, we will grow out some F2's.

Raybo, I don't think that's the same type of tomato that I encountered. Either that, or you have grown out some of the "cardboard" and found a gem.

[livinonfaith]

Okay Raybo, I've made up my mind. While I was leaning toward respect and appreciation for your obvious skills, now I just hate you.

You're like an evil tomato genius, taunting those of us who do not yet have winter tomatoes.

Soooo wrong. (have to go, I'm drooling again.) Darn you, Raybo!!!

[rnewste]

Hey!

I'm just trying to inject a warped sense of humor - as we are in the dead of Winter right now.

But look at the bright side - - the days are getting longer (21 days past the Winter Solstice as of today) and seed starting is happening now for many folks.

All is right with the World....

Raybo