Can someone explain?

[dcarch]

I decided to start a new thread here:

Originally Posted by lightt

There recently was a link posted on GW to a Kansas State University Extension article that explained why it is not only OK, but in many circumstances preferable to pick tomatoes prior to being fully ripe. This is probably more interesting to those who have pest pressures -- especially from pests that wait until the fruit is a just day or so from being fully ripe!
I'm one of those who (at least subconsciously) bought into the grocery store and roadside market "vine ripened" hype although for various reasons I’ve occasionally brought in unripe fruit but didn’t note any taste differences.


I was not aware of a membrane forming that seals the tomato stem -- which pretty much voids the entire concept of "vine ripening"!!

* Inside mature green tomatoes on the vine, two growth-regulating hormones change dramatically, causing the fruit to start producing ethylene gas. The gas makes the fruit cells age – soften, begin to lose their green and develop red, and produce more ethylene .. and so on.

* At the same time, a layer of cells starts to form across a joint in the stem, about one-half inch above the fruit. These cells will seal off the tomato so no additional materials can move into or from the plant.

“By the time the tomato has its first blush of red color, the layer of cells – called an abcision zone – is complete, and you can pick the tomato with no loss of flavor or quality,” Marr said. “If left on the vine after that, all the tomato will do is hang there, disconnected, going through the rest of the ripening process.”

Here's the url for the entire article: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/20...toes071805.htm

Terry Light

1. Has this study/conclusion been confirmed by others?

2. If the almost-ripe fruit is cut off from the plant, then why, as all you have experienced many times, would the fruit split after a heavy rain fall?

3. Has anyone here done a taste test?

Sorry, dumb questions.

dcarch