Why supermarket tomatoes come last in every taste test!
Since we did our famous tomato taste test twenty years ago at Heronswood with
top chefs (including Stephanie Alexander), garden writers and seed merchants,
we have found two explanations for the complete dominance of heirloom
garden varieties over supermarket hybrids.
1. According to US food authorities the modern tomato has the highest
dissatisfaction rating of any supermarket item. With these same supermarket
hybrids offered in Australia we can be sure it applies in Australia too.
Breeding for shelf life always supersedes flavour.
2. Considering that modern plant breeders have integrated a slow ripening
gene into the supermarket hybrids, the fruit can never develop sugars and
ripen but the fruit still looks red, shiny and impressive – like an ageless
celebrity film star.
The 1993 taste test was won by Tommy Toe. In our 2013 taste test (see table
below), fifteen varieties were regarded as better than the garden standard Grosse
Lisse – ten of these superior varieties having been introduced in the last few
years. Because a taste test of thirty varieties can be wearying on the taste buds,
Amish Paste, Mortgage Lifter and five other top tasting tomatoes were excluded
which, had they been listed, would take the list of superior heirlooms to
between twenty and twenty-five.
Top tasting
tomatoes
Equal 1st
Hungarian Heart
Equal 1st
Jaune Flammé
Finally, if every publicly owned heirloom variety tastes better than the
supermarket hybrids that make up 95% of supermarket tomato sales, what has
this got to say about modern plant breeding over the last fifty years?
The 2013 tomato taste test by 16 chefs, garden and media experts
Held in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, February 2013
Ranking Overall
score Variety
=1
=1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
77.40%
77.30%
74.50%
74.00%
73.00%
72.30%
72.07%
70.70%
68.80%
67.40%
66.80%
66.50%
66.30%
65.90%
65.50%
65.20%
64.40%
64.00%
63.07%
61.00%
60.70%
60.20%
57.30%
54.36%
54.07%
54.00%
54.42%
42.46%
Hungarian Heart
Jaune Flammé
Tommy Toe
Black Cherry
Wild Sweetie
Wapsipinicon Peach
Lemon Drop
Ananas Noir
Black Russian
Periforme/Granny’s Throwing
Purple Smudge
Green Zebra
Rose de Berne
Green Grape
Black Krim
Violet Jasper
Grosse Lisse (standard)
Tigerella
Brown Berry
Tondo Piccolo Brido (Franchi)
Redunda (Franchi)
Beams Yellow Pear
Roma Virus Free
Swanson
Marglobe
Malinche (Monsanto)
Nepoline
Supermarket F1
HL = Heirloom introduced by Diggers.
F1 = Commercial supermarket variety. OP = Open Pollinated
See Diggers Winter Garden 2013 for the full taste test story!
6 • Diggers Garden Annual 2013/14
1993
Rank Colour
—
—
1
—
14
—
—
—
—
—
—
16
—
—
—
—
15
12
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
29
Pink
Orange
Red
Red
Opaque
Lemon
Yellow/black
Black
Red
Orange
Yellow/green stripe
Pink
Olive
Black
Black
Red
Yellow/red stripe
Brown
Red
Red
Yellow
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Average Heirlooms
Average Commercial
Size
Oxheart
Apricot
Apricot
Cherry
Pea
Apricot
Grape
Beefsteak
Apricot
Large pear
Beefsteak
Apricot
Apricot
Grape
Mini beefsteak
Apricot
Large
Apricot
Cherry
Apricot
Obvate
Cherry
Plum
Obvate
Obvate
Obvate
Obvate
Obvate
Type
Intro
date
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
HL
F1
F1
HL
F1
F1
OP
F1
F1
F1
2007
2001
1993
2011
1994
2005
2005
2012
1992
2012
2012
1991
2012
2007
1996
2012
—
1992
2007
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2013 – 68.90% 1993 – 60.93%
2013 – 49.70% 1993 – 49.80%
2nd
Tommy Toe
3rd
Black Cherry
4th
Wild Sweetie
5th
Wapsipinicon Peach
6th
Lemon Drop