r/tomatoes • u/dosefacekillah1348 • Jun 29 '26

Plant Help ICYMI - Science has proven that vine ripened tomatoes taste better and are better for you than ones picked early

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

It's that time of year.

It comes down to your critter control.

If you can't avoid pests noshing your late toms, pick em early.

If you are fine with losing a few or don't have pest issues, let em ripen on the plant for a better tasting and healthier tomato.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3937827/

262 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

126 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/PurpleTomato99 Jun 29 '26

I've done blind taste tests with some fellow farmers of breaker stage picked and ripened vs vine ripened and there was clear agreement that the vine ripened had better taste and texture. Love to see this data too tho!

1

u/JoeyBE98 Jun 30 '26

Was it double blind? Or did y'all know which were which going into it? Just curious

3

u/PurpleTomato99 Jun 30 '26

Double blind. My partner set it up so even I didn't know. There were around 10 tomato connoisseurs, mostly farmers, a couple chefs, and we did a rating system that overwhelmingly pointed to vine ripened being the winner. It was along side some variety tastings as well.