harvesting and transportation methods. A bruised tomato not only has a much shorter shelflife but is

not acceptable to consumers. Hand-picking ripe tomatoes and packing them individually in

cushioned cases is an alternative, but at a price few of us can afford.

Even after they are gas-ripened, the tomatoes must be very firm, therefore not fully ripe, to

meet supermarket demands. One grocery store chain's criterion for an acceptable tomato is that they

can drop it three times from a six-foot height without bursting. A good supermarket manager plans

ahead and let tomatoes ripen for several days before putting them on display. Because of space

limitations, that is rarely possible.

Processed tomatoes, on the other hand, stay on the vine to the red ripe stage when their

flavor is fullest. Since processing is within hours of harvesting, bruising is of no consequence. If you

ever travel in the tomato growing areas of Northern California in late summer, you'll see enormous

double-trailer dump trucks by the hundreds filled to the brim with bright red tomatoes headed for

Campbell Soup or some other processing plant. If you have the yen to can some yourself, just stop

near one of the sharp curves on a country road skirting the tomato fields, or at any interstate on-

ramp, and pick up bushelsful of the many that escape from the trucks in transit.

Canned vine-ripened tomatoes do have a good flavor but not the same as fresh, truely vine-

ripened tomatoes. Processing at elevated temperatures changes some of the flavor-producing

volatile content. There are several hundred known volatiles in tomatoes and still a great number of

unknown ones. In spite of the change, good-quality canned tomatoes are excellent for virtually any

cooking purpose. Taste-testing panels of food and consumer magazines rate American canned

tomatoes high on a number of tests, even ahead of the much higher-priced imported Italian plum

tomatoes.

The nutrient contents of canned and frozen vegetables are also higher than most consumers

think. Whether for canning or freezing, they harvest vegetables close to fully-ripe stage and process

or freeze quickly enough to almost fully preserve nutrients. They are, indeed, richer in their nutrient

content than fresh vegetables stored too long in warehouses or someone's refrigerator.

Tomatoes are particularly high in vitamin C. The highest concentration of this vitamin is in

that jelly-like substance surrounding the seeds. When a recipe calls for seeded tomatoes, you discard

a great deal of the vitamin C along with the seeds. I suggest, for maximum benefit to your health,

that you disregard that step in a recipe whenever possible. Removing the seeds is purely cosmetic.

Health authorities consider tomatoes the number one nutrient source of all fruits and

vegetables in the U.S. because we eat them in such large amounts. Each of us puts away 80 pounds

(

36 kg) a year, on the average, in one form or another. That is nearly ¼ pound (115 g) a day!

It is in the genes

Good-tasting tomatoes from the supermarket? Is that a culinary dream or could it be real?

And if real, is genetically altered produce the answer? We received the first of such a produce,

genetically altered tomato from California, in 1994, with full approval of all government agencies.

Naturally, all of us discriminating tasters were excited but most of us skeptical. The skepticism was

two-fold. Many didn’t like the concept of genetic meddling, others didn’t believe it could be true.

But we were eager and willing to try. Reluctant to purchase flavorless winter tomatoes, we have

been restricted to a few summer months for good tasting raw salad tomatoes. Will genetically

altered tomatoes allow us a far longer season of enjoyment? First, what does genetic alteration do?

The process of genetically altering tomatoes is not simple, but easy to understand. The

geneticists introduce the new genetic message through tissue culture into leaf parts. After the plants

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