That farmer's market stand in Portland sold me a $12 'heirloom' tomato that tasted like water

Went to the Saturday market downtown and this guy was going on about how his tomatoes were 'the real deal' so I grabbed one. Cut it up for a salad that night and it had zero flavor, just crunch and sadness. Is there actually a way to tell if produce is good before you buy it, or am I just doomed to keep getting tricked by fancy signs?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowanharris2d ago

Heirloom doesn't mean good, it just means old variety, and plenty of those taste like nothing if picked early or grown in bad soil. That stand guy probably grabbed whatever was ripe that morning and marked it up because the word sells. Smell the stem end next time, if it doesn't smell like a tomato, don't buy it, no matter what the sign says.

stella_lane1d ago

Read somewhere that soil microbes actually do way more for tomato flavor than the variety name ever will. Like the same exact seed grown in different dirt can taste totally different. So yeah, that stand guy could have some rare purple heirloom and it still might be bland if the ground is dead. I always tap the tomato too, if it feels hollow it's usually mealy inside. The stem sniff trick is solid but half the time those farm stands pick everything early so it survives the drive to the market.