Tomatoes: Why Homegrown Taste Better

That is the most heavenly flavor in the world - a real tomato.

I was amazed at how many young people, didn't like tomatoes and I couldn't figure that out - and it finally dawned on me.

They've been eating these styrofoam, plastic things.

Now, none of us would like tomatoes either, if that's the only we'd ever had.

So, what makes a summer garden tomato taste so much better than a store - bought one?

I'm Dr. Howard Conyers with another episode of: Nourish.

I'm here, with my friend, legendary Seed saver and farmer John CoyKendall, to talk tomatoes.

John: Hey, good afternoon!

Howard: How you doing, John?

John: Wonderful, wonderful.

Howard: Thank you for coming down to Louisiana.

John: It's a pleasure to be here.

Howard: Rare opportunity John: Anytime you can preach the tomato gospel!

Howard: Tomato Gospel!

John: Have you raised tomatoes?

Howard: Yes, I grew up on a farm.

John: Yeah?

Was this in South Carolina?

Howard: This was South Carolina.

Howard: We used to do something with tomatoes, during the summer - we used to actually stew the tomatoes down and put it in with Okra.

John: Oh gosh, that's a wonderful dish.

John: It was usually browning up some onions and garlic and stewing the okra and tomatoes with it.

Sometimes a little hot pepper to spice it up some, and it was good served on rice.

Howard: Or cornbread.

John: Yeah.

Howard: That's one of my favorite summertime dishes.

Okra and Tomatoes.

John: It's simple and easy.

Howard: It's simple.John: It's so good too.

Howard: John has some unique thoughts on the commerical tomato, you might find in the store.

John: Look how beautiful this is, perfect in shape.

Beautiful sheen to it.

But, there's only one problem.

No flavor.

No taste, whatsoever.

However, there is one group of people that do love these!

That's your baseball teams, when they're in spring training, they'll use those for batting practice.

You couldn't put a scratch on one, a dent, or anything else.

Howard: So we decided to put John's theory about store brought tomatoes to the test.

So I brought this baseball bat - John: Just to prove a point.

Howard: Just to prove a point.

My baseball skills, I don't know - - they questionable.

I'm an engineer, but we'll give it a whirl.

John: Might knock some sense into me.

John: There she goes.

John: Lookeethere, not even a scratch.

No evidence at all.

John: Not a pit peeve.

Howard: How about you give it a try?

John: Let's see ya.

John: I'm just trying to get on base, anyway that I can.

Howard: That was nice.

Howard: You got pretty good form there.

John: For somebody 100 years old!

[John laughs] Howard: So, how did tomatoes go from a delicious summer treat, to the big league?

Howard: Long Story.

Howard: One thing that I noticed about these tomatoes John, correct me if I'm wrong - - these are perfectly round - but these are really ugly.

The ugliest tomatoes taste the best though.

John: Yeah, they do.

John: A good tomato, in the summer time, those will be beautiful big red tomatoes.

They'll have that wonderful rich flavor tomato - - you can't get that anywhere in the store.

If you want to have that tomato - Howard: You know how I like tomatoes, John?

John: How's that?

Howard: I like mine with just salt.

John: Me too.

John: Really that's all you need.

For tomato tasting: A good cutting board, a sharp knife, and some sea salt if you want it.

Howard: Most commerical tomatoes are picked early, green - long before the sun had riped them produce that distinctive tomato taste.

John: Those store bought tomatoes hadn't had the time in the field they had been robbed at a young age.

Howard: Once feared as poisonous, and nicknamed "Love Apples," Tomatoes weren't always mostly red - or round.

John: See these things are bred to be So that when Ken and Barbie go shopping, they see this perfect little round tomato.

Howard: Round.

John: Feel how hard that skin of that thing is.

They're engineered for mechanical harvesting, shipping .

and shelf life.

In other words, they'll last a long time.

John: Beautiful, beautiful tomato.

In a beauty contest, this one will win.

If you were blindfolded, you wouldn't know what it was.

Howard: Science, Revolutionized agriculture.

In the case of tomatoes, it boosted productivity.

But it killed the flavor.

In the 1950's scientists invented a machine that changed everything.

A Mechanical Tomato Picker.

Around the same time, growers were breeding tomatoes with uniform shape and thicker skins that could take machine harvesting.

and ones, that could magically turn red, all at once.

John: But they pretty.

Howard: They're pretty, they're definitely pretty.

John: They're smooth - - however, looks can be deceiving.

Howard: These genetic modifications, turned off genes that increased acidity and sugar production in tomatoes that made them taste good.

And aroma genes, that made them smell so delicious.

John: These modern brides, everything - the flavor's been bred out the acidic content has been diminished.

Howard: Did you know that many warehouse tomatoes are gassed with Ethylene?

A horomone they normally produce themselves?

So that they turn red at the same time.

And some varieties are bred to produce a rose smelling compound found in fruits and flowers so they are more pleasing to your nose.

John: Now this one of your old types.

Howard: Ugliest, best tasting tomato John: Ugliest, best tasting then maybe you'll ever had.

Some of your better ones, have a great balance between the sugar content and the other sweet flavor and the acidic.

Remember there's just numerous varieties of these old ones.

Howard: Old ones.

With rich histories and names, Like The Mortgage Lifter.

The Purple Cherokee.

Black Beauty.

And the famous Creole.

Celebrated in Louisiana - with this old festival.

Kathryn:The Creole tomato is legendary.

Right?

It's like the Loch Ness Monster.

Or some kind of mythical creature, almost.

Growers in Plaquemine and St. Bernard Parish, always grew what we called, Creole Tomatoes.

Their soil is rich, it's very alluvial, has nice flavor.

And there is truth to that, the soil sometimes will change the flavor.

So some people call that the terroir: or the way the soil influences the flavor of the produce.

And to this day, The St. Bernard and Plaquemine farmers, are the only Creole growers, in Louisiana.

When you talk to them, everybody else is just a big fat liar.

Howard: So have you ever had a tomato sandwich?

Or a Mater Sandwich as some people like to say?

John: A 'Mater sandwhich.

Howard: With a little bit of mayo.

Good fresh, white bread.

And being a whole hog man myself, I like to add a little bacon to this Southern stable.

John: Mm-hmm Howard: There's nothing better, right?

A little salt and pepper.

John: You almost have to stand over the sink to eat it - it just Howard: All the juice, just drops out.

John: Runs like a waterfall.

John: We're in a Renaissance now, this isn't a fad.

If you eat this real tomato, here.

And then somebody hands you this to eat.

It's not too much, it's not too much rocket science involved.

You're going to go back to a real tomato.

And so, that people are rediscovering food, real food.

Howard: It's not rocket science, either, right?

John: No it isn't, it's pretty simple.

Howard: More and more people are growing these older varieties to protect them from extinction.

John: For something to survive, it's got to be used.

John: It's the same with all these crops.

Howard: Why is seed saving important?

John: We're proving a point sitting right here at this table, enjoying these.

John: We have lost somewhere, upwards of 94% of what was available over a 100 years ago.

Howard: With these seeds, as farming and sharecropping left.

Agriculture had a bad taste in a lot of young people and families.

And people moved away from the farms.

And with that, we lost these types of seeds.

John: We lost a lot of things.

Howard: We lost a lot of things.

Howard: Do you think there's a chance that some of these things still exist, even though they may not be within the seed saving community?

John: Yes, i think so.

Because we're always finding new things.

Howard: Saving heirloom seeds is saving family history.

John: In other words, I come to you - you're family lives in South Carolina - Chances are you've already got a lot of seeds that have been handed down through the family.

Photographs have been passed along and heirlooms.

These are living heirlooms.

They link people and times of celebration, tradition.

Everybody's waking up to the value of these, that's your living history.

That's your heritage.

John: Peas, came from Africa.

Niger river, based in Africa - the genetic homeland of Field Peas.

Your okra, comes from Africa.

Lot of these things, that we've just assimilated into life and nobody things of where it came from.

But we're on the rebound.

Howard: We're on the rebound.

It's coming back.

We heard it from a legend - it's coming back.

We shouldn't talk down elders and gain some insight.

John: That's what I say.

I was just visited today by a buddy of mine that's 97 years old.

Okay, with all due respect to our elders, not everyone is a gardener, so hopefully you have a farmer's market near you, because, there's so many ways to enjoy fresh garden tomatoes.

Even a simple salad.

John: That good tomato, it's meant to go from your back patch garden, right to your dinner table and be eaten.

It's meant to be enjoyed - Howard: Enjoyed.

John: - right where it's grown.

Howard: With people.

John: Yes.

Howard: That's what it's all about.

John: With Tradition, heritage, history, and family gathering - all those great elements that go into spicing up a meal.

Howard: So - John: This for batting, this for eating.

Howard: This for eating.

Joe: We're going to be in good shape.

Howard: We'll be in good shape.

Howard: I got a legend here with me, I appreciate you coming.

So how do you enjoy garden fresh tomatoes?

And do you know of any heirloom seeds that needs saving?

Share your information below, and subscribe to Nourish.

John: Did you sit out on the front porch with the family and sit around?

Any butter beans, - Howard: With that white porcelain tub?

John: yes, yes.

Howard: About this thick?

I used to hate it.

But the next day, the meal was so delicious.

John: Oh gosh, it made it worthwhile?

Howard: Made it worthwhile.

Howard: This program is made possible by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.