Tomatoes don’t grow on trees, Part II: Taste Test

I’m making my lunch.

Orange cheddar cheese — my favourite, but it’s dyed orange and I don’t know why.

White sourdough bread — I think you get the point.

Finnish mustard — really good.

Honey ham — sodium nitrate and smoke. Good luck finding any deli meat that isn’t.

Tomato — here’s the fun part.

I realised my tomatoes need to get eaten up. My boyfriend grabbed the usual, tomatoes-on-the-vine. That was on Wednesday. They’re… not as red as they should be, and still very firm after 3 days. I did a test and dropped one on the counter. I hucked it against the kitchen cupboard, and then it fell on the lino-covered cement floor. Not a bruise. It incurred a slight slit to its skin, but that was it. I cut it, and listened… a slight crunch as I broke the skin, then I looked at it… “Oh my god, he’s right,” I said out loud, referring to author Thomas Pawlick. “I have to photograph this.”

The Dole brand tomato has a thick, fibrous layer under the skin that is pale and gross-looking. Inside, it’s watery, not juicy. It’s big, and looks exactly the same as the other 3 in every regard.

Finally, a taste test: I bit into the beautiful red tomato from my boyfriend’s granddad’s home-grown tree. MMM… oh yeah. So good. Now for the other one… crunch, chew, chew… YUCK. It’s BITTER! Not sweet, not soft, not yummy.

And I’m having second thoughts about putting it on my sandwich.

Photo documentation

large Dole tomato versus small homegrown tomato

see all that pale pith? that’s not good.

less pith, darker. a RED tomato. juicy, not runny.

After lunch thoughts:

The Dole tomato’s “juice” ran down my arm… every single time. I wasted a kleenex just cleaning it up (I wasn’t about to drip all the way to the kitchen!). I enjoyed my sandwich with homegrown tomatoes much more.