I bought some tomatoes at a local Farmer’s Market the other day off the back of this elderly guy and his wife’s pickup truck. The tomatoes to select from were all very uniform and pretty, almost weirdly so for home grown vine tomatoes, but then when I got back home I was surprised by how “thick” the interior walls were and how similar the tomatoes were to standard tasteless cardboard supermarket tomatoes. They weren’t quite that bad, but they were a long way away from my memories of my father’s thin skinned, succulent “Better Boy” and “Best Boy” garden tomatoes bursting with flavor from over 40+ years ago. Those are what I had in mind in buying Farmer’s Market tomatoes not these “meh” tomatoes.
Are these thick skinned mediocrities what “garden tomatoes” are these days or are these pickup vendors sourcing the tomatoes from somewhere other than their home gardens and just re-selling them? I am in a rural agricultural area on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where large scale farming of supermarket tomatoes is probably going on somewhere.
This early in the season, I imagine you’ve got hothouse tomatoes. I’m pretty sure that’s what the Amish in St. Mary’s county are selling at the moment. Personally, I don’t think it’s possible for hothouse tomatoes to match *real *tomatoes. I’ll wait for the field grown varieties myself.
I did not consider that I think you have a very valid point it’s not really possible to get a true backyard tomato at this point. I’ve gotten so used to supermarket tomatoes that I’ve lost touch with the realities of the seasons.
We had a “farmer” show up at our local farmer’s market some time ago with a truck full of apples in crates. But the local, true farmers knew he wasn’t one, and when they found out he had just loaded up his truck at some wholesaler, they banished him from the marketplace, since the rules said you had to grow or produce all the produce you sell there.
He parked his truck outside of the market and sold from there, but never came back again.
We sell at farmers markets, and so we’ve gotten to know several farms in the area. We know of one couple that grows a very minimal amount of stuff, just to qualify as a “farm,” but buys most of their stuff wholesale and re-sells it. They aren’t liked by any of the other sellers, and they are the epitome of inbred dirtbags. So re-selling does happen if you’re not careful.
Baltimore born-and-bred, here. There’s only ONE Eastern Shore (I knew where you meant); it’s what you pass through to go downy oshun. You know that phrase attributed to Ben Franklin about God and beer? Maryland Silver Queen corn fits even better.
I still don’t know how long you have to live in Florida before you realize “the west coast” is St. Pete, and not Los Angeles.
These days they also could have been hydroponics or “High Tunnel” tomatoes. I was at the world’s finest farmer’s market three weeks ago in Falls Church, VA. Saw many from vendors in Virginia and the Eastern Shore.
Yeah, I dunno where you’re at, but for me August-September is tomato season, but in warmer parts of the US, it can be as early as June. Mid-May seems way early to me, so I’d guess you’re getting hothouse/hydroponic/whatever tomatoes.
I’ve had tomatoes from farmer’s markets as you’ve described. It’s not your tastes that have changed or anything. There really are a lot of shit tomatoes out there.
Another vote for hothouse/hydroponic tomatoes. Once you’ve had a home-grown tomato, there is no mistaking that taste for anything else. It’s like all other tomatoes are black and white, and homegrown ones are glorious technicolor.
Especially if they were handed to you by the Munchkin Tomato Guildmaster.
Seasons. Supermarkets make you forget all about them. But I agree, it’s impossible to replicate the essential “tomatoness” of a fresh-off-the-vine garden tomato in season.
Hell. I don’t even really like raw tomatoes that much, but I’ll eat a fresh garden tomato 5 seconds after picking it with no other seasoning than the sunshine still pouring down on it. It’s absolutely magical, and worth waiting for.
We’ve got several farmer’s markets in my town. Most of them are boutique hippie markets with super-expensive produce grown on very small farms. One of them is huge and permanent and divided into two sections. The front section is a tourist trap, full of stupid souvenirs and tchotchkes and small quantities of overpriced produce.
The back of it is where the magic happens: this is where farmers bring their real produce, priced for wholesale. Restaurants and grocery stores shop back there, buying bulk produce. Folks like me can go back there and buy huge (for me) quantities, say, a gallon of amazing strawberries for $12.
Also the modern ones don’t have that heavy smell; nothing to do with aging tastebuds: when one entered a tomato greenhouse in season it was like being assaulted by pungent perfume x10.
