Tomatoes have a long and unusual relationship with our culinary world. Once thought poisonous, they came to be staples in everything from salsa to pasta to pizza. A lot of work goes into the ripe red tomatoes found at today's grocery store: the fruits have been bred to resists disease, look bright red, and have a long shelf life. But breeding for those qualities has come at a cost: flavor.
Now researchers at the University of Florida have published a new study identifying "flavor genes"in the fruit, and how tomatoes breeders can engineer taste back into their tomatoes. It's research with big implications for the billion-dollar worldwide tomato crop, including the roughly 30 million 25-pound boxes of Florida-grown tomatoes shipped every year, accounting for more than $300 million in business.
Tuesday at 1 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, tomato researcher Denise Tieman with the University of Florida's Horticultural Sciences Department explains what the research that identifies the flavor genes in tomatoes.
Also joining the program is Robert McMahon, Jr. with Fort Myers' Southern Fresh Farms, talking about his effort to grow heirloom tomatoes in Florida and the differences when it comes to tomatoes.