When I was a kid - some 60 years ago - I discovered tomatoes, fresh off the vine in our new backyard. I was astonished at the flavor then, and as a young man, was amazed by the rich, even erotic, flavor of those lush fruits. It has now long dawned on me that tomatoes no longer taste like that. Even farmer’s markets or neighbor’s plants don’t yield anything remotely like that. I understand that growers now develop the plants for looks, yield, early reddening, etc., and taste is no longer a significant concern of theirs. My question is this: is it even possible to find tomatoes that taste like they once did? Or are those plants now effectively extinct, thanks to Burpees, Hunts, etc.?
Look for “Heirloom” tomatoes.
In my experience, heirloom tomatoes taste pretty much like all the other ones out there.
Those tomatoes exist, but if you were a young man 60 years ago, there’s a good chance your taste is not what it used to be.
I’ve had some really awesome tasting tomatoes at some high-end restaurants, generally in a Caprese salad. So they are out there somewhere.
Then you’re getting the wrong heirloom tomatoes. 
I grow my own tomatoes and they taste way better than what I get from the grocery store during the long winter months…
Let’s move this from General Questions to the foodie forum, Café Society.
samclem, moderator, who thinks he’s had some damned good heirloom tomatoes the last five years or so.
Nailed it. You want fantastic tomatoes? Buy a few plants.
I hate to say it but this may be very true. I’ve heard that this is the reason that kids are more picky eaters than older people. The taste buds get less sensitive over age.
That being said home grown tomatoes are still amazing (and I’m in my 50’s)
I think cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes from the grocery store generally taste pretty good.
Sure they taste pretty good… but home grown taste pretty GREAT.
Not sure where you are from but I’d bet it isn’t a tomato growing state.
I’m 54 and my taste buds are still pretty functional. I do seem to have false memories of how great a lot of foods used to taste, tomatoes among them. I still like a good Caprese salad now and again, though.
This coupled with the fact that everything seemed awesome as a kid. I remember once as an adult, I got nostalgic for a can of Spaghettios . I took one bite of those horrid things and thought: “I use to like this shit?”
I’m 54 as well… and like to think my taste buds are still pretty sharp.
I’m pretty sure the Big Boys and Early Girls I’m growing this year will taste almost exactly like the ones my dad grew when I was 10, but it is tough to live up to childhood memories.
We call that “kid food.” Cap’n Crunch or various bright blue sodas and popsicles are similarly ghastly now, but were the height of kiddee cuisine when I was one.
There are literally hundreds of varieties of tomatoes out there. The commercial ones, like say… BHN 602 or Celebrityare likely bred more for good looks, size and disease resistance, not strictly for flavor.
OTOH, something like Zapotec Pink Ribbedwas clearly not grown for looks.
I’d go look for heirloom varieties, or even older commercial varieties (like say… Porter’s Improved). Beyond that, regardless of the variety, make sure they’re fully ripe. Most store tomatoes are underripe and simply reddened up by ethylene gas treatment. You can usually sit on those for a week or two easy before they’re ripe enough to eat.
I just don’t buy tomatoes from the grocery store. The ones I grow myself are great though, in no small part to the fact that I eat them just minutes after picking them.
It also depends on where the tomatoes were grown. I’ve read that California ones are much better then Florida ones. I heard a guy who wrote a book about awful Florida tomatoes when one day he was behind a tomato truck which lost a bunch of tomatoes. He stopped and picked some up - and found they were undamaged after falling ten feet to a hard pavement. No wonder they taste like crap.
Childhood? I’ve been in China for a year and a half and I have unrealistically golden memories of how terrific Taco Bell is!
So what… are you implying that Taco Bell isn’t the most amazing experience of “Mexican” food you could possibly find? 