Flavour

Labradors2 · July 24, 2018

How do I get the flavor back?

My experimental tomatoes had great flavor up to F3, but the ones I am growing this year do not have that wonderful flavor

. I grew 8 plants and haven't tasted maters from them all yet so there is still hope, but what if it's gone???? Will it come back if I grow seeds from these?

Another interesting thing is that the fruit is larger than it was. They started life as golf ball sized with the occasional larger one, but now the golf ball size appears to be the exception.

Linda

Nan_PA_6b · July 24, 2018

I'm watching this thread; would love to know more about this. Maybe 8 isn't enough?

Nan

saltmarsh · July 24, 2018

Try an experiment if you will.

Pick 4 tomatoes showing good color but about a week from ripe.

Mark 1 tomato and put it aside as a control.

Run a pot of tap water 125 degrees F.

Place the 3 tomatoes in the pot with a saucer on top to hold them down.

After 5 minutes, remove the tomatoes and allow them all to ripen on the counter for a week.

After a week taste the tomatoes and see if the flavor isn't back on the ones that had the hot water bath. Claud

AlittleSalt · July 25, 2018

Saltmarsh, that is interesting. I would like to try that with some store bought tomatoes to see if it might help with their taste? (I'm not meaning to go off-topic.)

Linda, your thread caught my attention. Now I'm curious.

KarenO · July 25, 2018

it could be the weather Linda. It’s been a tough year. See if later fruits have the flavour, if not I would go back a gen, reselect from your F3’s
KarenO

Labradors2 · July 25, 2018

Thanks Karen. I will go back a generation if I don't find any with that fabulous flavor. I'd have thought they'd have been amazing this year with all the sun/heat we've been having, but it was pretty cool earlier on in the season which could have had a negative effect.

Claud, that sounds like a fun experiment for me to try. Thanks

.

Linda

bower · July 25, 2018

Don't discount the possibility that you'll find the flavor in those untasted plants!

By the time my tomatoes ripen I've already got favorites selected in my mind.. whether they were earlier, prettier, or a more bumptious crop. And I've already discounted certain plants - oh, that one is the latest to ripen and it's got fewer tomatoes, plenty of catfacing... not taking that one forward. Then going through the formality of tasting the "winners" and the "losers" you discover that the ugly little catface you tasted just because it's there, has a unique flavor out of this world! While your top pick for shape and production turns out to be the only one that isn't sweet at all.

Also, don't judge the flavor on the first fruits. There's just too much that can go wrong in those earliest fruit - the heat wasn't there, the root system was still developing, or any other reason they didn't get exactly the nutrients at some critical moment, to make them sweetest and best of the crop, or even representative of the taste of most of your crop. I know we can't resist eating them, and sometimes the first one is a really good one and it's delightful.

You just can't count on it, IMO.

Other than that, I agree that the cure for a lost trait is to go back a generation - and a good reason to save seeds from more than one of the best plants in a given generation, if you have siblings that are equally good.

Meanwhile I hope you get lots more responses, as I'd love to hear what others have experienced on the subject of taste as you go down the generations to stability.

Labradors2 · July 25, 2018

Thanks very much for your counsel Bower

.

Why didn't you tell me to save seeds from more than one of my plants last year? {LOL}. I only saved seeds from the most compact plant with the most perfect, small round, tasty tomatoes. Others were tasty, just not as perfect or as compact. Lesson learned on that!

I have read that taste is "easy to get back". I always wondered how, and I hope that someone "in the know" will tell us.

Linda

saltmarsh · July 25, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Saltmarsh, that is interesting. I would like to try that with some store bought tomatoes to see if it might help with their taste? (I'm not meaning to go off-topic.)

Linda, your thread caught my attention. Now I'm curious.

I've been using the hot water bath for a year and a half on store bought tomatoes.

Doesn't work on "Tomatoes on the Vine".

Works great on the red slicers. Improves both flavor and texture. Choose unblemished plump less-than-ripe fruit. If the tomatoes have "woody stem" from improper watering when growing the hot water bath won't fix it. If the tomatoes have sprouted seeds when you slice them, they were too ripe when you gave them the bath.

Works well with roma tomatoes, but it is hard to find romas that aren't too ripe to bath.

I haven't tried it with cherry tomatoes because I don't eat mayonaise and cherry tomato sandwiches. Claud

Nan_PA_6b · July 28, 2018

Come on, you tomato breeders! Have any of you recovered flavor after a bland generation!!!!!!!!???????????!????????

July 24, 2018	#1
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,895	Flavour How do I get the flavor back? My experimental tomatoes had great flavor up to F3, but the ones I am growing this year do not have that wonderful flavor . I grew 8 plants and haven't tasted maters from them all yet so there is still hope, but what if it's gone???? Will it come back if I grow seeds from these? Another interesting thing is that the fruit is larger than it was. They started life as golf ball sized with the occasional larger one, but now the golf ball size appears to be the exception. Linda Last edited by Labradors2; July 25, 2018 at 08:08 AM.

July 24, 2018	#2
Nan_PA_6b Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 3,194	I'm watching this thread; would love to know more about this. Maybe 8 isn't enough? Nan

July 24, 2018	#3
saltmarsh Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: 2 miles south of Yoknapatawpha Zone 7b Posts: 662	Try an experiment if you will. Pick 4 tomatoes showing good color but about a week from ripe. Mark 1 tomato and put it aside as a control. Run a pot of tap water 125 degrees F. Place the 3 tomatoes in the pot with a saucer on top to hold them down. After 5 minutes, remove the tomatoes and allow them all to ripen on the counter for a week. After a week taste the tomatoes and see if the flavor isn't back on the ones that had the hot water bath. Claud

July 25, 2018	#4
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	Saltmarsh, that is interesting. I would like to try that with some store bought tomatoes to see if it might help with their taste? (I'm not meaning to go off-topic.) Linda, your thread caught my attention. Now I'm curious.

July 25, 2018	#5
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	it could be the weather Linda. It’s been a tough year. See if later fruits have the flavour, if not I would go back a gen, reselect from your F3’s KarenO

July 25, 2018	#7
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Don't discount the possibility that you'll find the flavor in those untasted plants! By the time my tomatoes ripen I've already got favorites selected in my mind.. whether they were earlier, prettier, or a more bumptious crop. And I've already discounted certain plants - oh, that one is the latest to ripen and it's got fewer tomatoes, plenty of catfacing... not taking that one forward. Then going through the formality of tasting the "winners" and the "losers" you discover that the ugly little catface you tasted just because it's there, has a unique flavor out of this world! While your top pick for shape and production turns out to be the only one that isn't sweet at all. Also, don't judge the flavor on the first fruits. There's just too much that can go wrong in those earliest fruit - the heat wasn't there, the root system was still developing, or any other reason they didn't get exactly the nutrients at some critical moment, to make them sweetest and best of the crop, or even representative of the taste of most of your crop. I know we can't resist eating them, and sometimes the first one is a really good one and it's delightful. You just can't count on it, IMO. Other than that, I agree that the cure for a lost trait is to go back a generation - and a good reason to save seeds from more than one of the best plants in a given generation, if you have siblings that are equally good. Meanwhile I hope you get lots more responses, as I'd love to hear what others have experienced on the subject of taste as you go down the generations to stability.

July 25, 2018	#8
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,895	Thanks very much for your counsel Bower . Why didn't you tell me to save seeds from more than one of my plants last year? {LOL}. I only saved seeds from the most compact plant with the most perfect, small round, tasty tomatoes. Others were tasty, just not as perfect or as compact. Lesson learned on that! I have read that taste is "easy to get back". I always wondered how, and I hope that someone "in the know" will tell us. Linda

July 28, 2018	#10
Nan_PA_6b Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 3,194	Come on, you tomato breeders! Have any of you recovered flavor after a bland generation!!!!!!!!???????????!????????