The flavor of a ripe tomato straight from the garden can’t compare to tomatoes from the supermarket, which are built to grow bigger and withstand travel and storage. Now, scientists have charted the genetic path that made today’s tomatoes nearly unrecognizable from their more flavorful predecessors.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, researchers looked for key flavor-enhancing genes that have dwindled or disappeared as the tomato changed over the years. With their research, they believe they can return that taste to grocery store tomatoes—with a little genetic fiddling.
“Genomic technologies, like the ones the authors used in this research, really enable us to study what happened to the tomato in a very effective way,” Esther van der Knaap, a UGA plant geneticist who was not involved in the new study, told smithsonianmag.com. “What did we leave behind, and what are we carrying through?”
Researchers at a University of Florida lab are now testing varieties.
“If those tomatoes can be even slightly improved it will be a big gain for consumers, and this study certainly shows a road map of how that can be done,” van der Knaap said.
