What you don't know about tomatoes

The ugly ones taste the best!

Really! Tomatoes were probably the first vegetable (Well, fruit. I later learned.) in my journey to holistic nutrition. Growing up, grabbing a ripe, red tomato off the vine was one of my favorite summertime memories. I just loved the taste of garden-fresh tomatoes! I would eat them all! Seriously!

So when I grew up and went to college, I quickly became disappointed with the tomatoes at the store. They were bland, grainy, and even though they were bright red, they were as hard as a green tomato. What gives?

I quickly learned that grocery store tomatoes are picked green and hard so they can survive the trip from Florida (typically) to Wisconsin in the dead of winter and not be totally smashed. Then they are gassed to turn red, artificially "ripened." Then I learned that tomatoes are being bred these days more for durability than for flavor and nutrition. We are basically breeding the nutrition right out of our food for the sake of beauty! Because after all, all the tomatoes on the grocery store shelves "must look exactly alike with zero blemishes." That's how we Americans like it, right?

No way!!!

In comes the word "heirloom." You all heard of it? It means varieties that have been grown for generations, and selected for their flavor, their nutrition, and not so much for their looks. So they are bumpy, lumpy, have cracks and scars. They may even have a worm hole or too (newsflash, just cut it out. It won't kill you. :) ) because even the worms know what is good food! And best of all....they are so yummy!!

So next time you go to pick out some fresh tomatoes, remember...The Uglier The Better!!

#Tomatoes #Antioxidants