6-8 IAN Tasty Tomatoes

 Can hothouse tomatoes taste like tomatoes.

 I was talking to Paul Brentlinger, who is president of Crop King  the other day. His business puts in greenhouses for people who want to farm hydroponically. I told him my pet peeve when it comes to the subject of hydroponics is hothouse tomatoes. Lots of people grow tomatoes hydroponically but pick them way too early and they end up tasteless. I asked if in my lifetime was it achievable to get a hydroponic tomato that tasted like a tomato from my garden.  “Not only achievable but currently being done. The disservice that the large scale hydroponic farmers have done to the industry is just that. The number one thing that people think of when they think of hydroponic tomatoes or produce is that they think bland, cardboard, sawdust, we have heard them all. It’s not hydroponic tomatoes, it’s all varietal. The growers, to produce in one region and then ship all over the country, typically choose their varieties of tomatoes with taste being much, much lower on the list as far as their concerns. What is very high on the list is resistance to diseases, shipability, yield, things like that. That’s what those guys are choosing their varieties based on. The smaller growers, the growers who are focusing on a smaller market, a niche market, are basing their choices on varieties with taste on a much higher level.