WIKIMEDIA, RASBAKTomatoes are the #1-selling fruit or vegetable in the world today. Yet consumers complain about blandness of supermarket tomatoes and yearn for the old timey summer-fresh, off-the-vine taste. In a recent symposium at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science, Harry Klee, a horticultural scientist at the University of Florida, reminded us that it is only in the last 50 years or so that “we’ve done damage to tomato,” referring to the creation of the industrial variety—a prolific yielder with inferior flavor. He also noted that with the recent publication of the tomato genome sequence and subsequent identification of key flavors and aroma genes, it may now be within our power to create a good-tasting and high-yielding fruit.
The goals of commercial tomato breeders have changed over time. In the late 1800s, the best seed men sought large, round, smooth fruit, over the lumpy or furrowed tomatoes, and they also selected for good taste. They sold their seeds to growers, who often sold directly to consumers. But after World War II, in response to the steadily increasing consumer market for tomatoes worldwide, breeding was heavily targeted for crop yield and shelf-life during distribution. Now the growers’ customer is the distributor, not the consumer. As Klee explained in his talk, “It is all about money. The growers simply are not paid for good flavor. . . . The grower is paid for producing pounds of product.”
As a result, the market for a really ...
