Tomatoes could be eaten as fruit in the past, but why do so few people eat them raw now? I still remember that when I bought new tomatoes at home when I was a child, I could "show off" several of them, but now I rarely eat them raw because I feel that their taste has changed. I’m not the only one who thinks so. In recent years, more and more people have reported that the taste of tomatoes has become more and more unpleasant. What is the reason for this? What changes the taste of tomatoes? Come, come, pay attention to the passers-by and listen to what the passers-by have to say.
The origin of tomatoes
Tomatoes, whose scientific name is "tomato", are the most commonly eaten food in every household. They are native to South America and belong to the Solanaceae family. They are closely related to potatoes and peppers. In fact, tomatoes were not for eating at first, but for viewing. The original tomatoes were relatively small, a bit like peas. Later, human intervention caused the fruit to expand a lot.
No one would eat tomatoes at first, because people generally thought they were poisonous, so they were used as ornamental plants. slowly spread to many countries. The first person to record eating tomatoes was an Italian physician who said in 1544 Tomatoes can be fried and eaten, but it was not widely spread at that time.
Until the 17th century, a French painter was attracted by its appearance after painting tomatoes many times. He tasted one and found that the taste was sour and sweet, and it was not poisonous. So he told his friends the news, and just like that, the news that tomatoes were edible spread from one to another, and tomatoes often appeared in recipes.
In the 18th century, tomatoes had become "everyday common people" in South America, and tomatoes were cooked in various ways: eating them raw, stewing soups, stir-frying, making sauces, etc. Tomatoes in our country were introduced during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. They were first introduced from Guangdong via sea route. At first, they were only used for viewing. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China that people began to eat tomatoes. By the 20th century, Tomatoes have become a national vegetable.
Why do tomatoes become unpalatable?
Tomatoes were often eaten raw as fruits in the past, but now due to the change in taste, tomatoes are basically only used in cooking. So why do tomatoes become unpalatable?
According to experts, the reason why today's tomatoes are not delicious is because the varieties are different. In the past, tomatoes were basically "sandy flesh", which were easily damaged during transportation and were not resistant to storage, so they gradually faded out of the market. Today's tomatoes have thicker skins, which are easier to store and less likely to go bad, but they don't taste good.
In fact, since the 20th century, commercial agriculture has begun to grow explosively, and tomato varieties have become more and more diverse as people cultivate them. There are hundreds of tomato varieties in the world, and most of them maintain high yields and are more abundant. Red has more robust properties. These traits help growers achieve higher sales prices, but also result in the loss of many genes in tomatoes.
In this regard, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences set up a research team to study this. The research team organized a "tasting group" of 170 people and conducted a total of 100 kinds of tomatoes over a period of 4 years. Taste experiment. Finally, it was discovered that there are 33 factors that affect the taste of tomatoes, including glucose, fructose, citric acid, malic acid and 29 volatile substances.
After further study, researchers found that the tomatoes grown by farmers now have lost the gene that controls the taste of tomatoes. This gene not only changes its taste, but also reduces the sweetness of tomatoes.
In addition, in order to reduce skin damage during transportation and make tomatoes less susceptible to rot, tomatoes are basically picked when they are not fully mature, which results in tomatoes not receiving sufficient sunlight and Adequate soil nutrients.
The flavor of tomatoes is slowly released during the ripening process. If the ripening process of tomatoes is deprived, it is equivalent to depriving tomatoes of their delicious taste in disguise.
The taste of today’s tomatoes has changed, will the nutrition be reduced?
We all know that tomatoes are a "fruit vegetable" with high nutritional content. They are rich in vitamins and lycopene. Lycopene is a phytochemical whose antioxidant capacity is 10 times that of vitamin E. About times, it can remove free radicals in the body, effectively reduce the occurrence of cancer , and can also lower lipids and blood pressure.
So will the nutrition of today’s tomatoes be reduced? In fact, no. Although the varieties and genes of today's food have changed, their nutritional content will not be changed. There is not much difference in nutritional content between different varieties, so you can eat it with confidence.
However, although tomatoes are highly nutritious, there are still some people who are not suitable to eat them, such as those with spleen and stomach deficiency, poor kidney function, those prone to stomach pain, abdominal pain, vitiligo, etc. Tomatoes are a cooling food, and they also contain substances such as citric acid and malic acid, so people with weak stomachs are not recommended to eat them.
Okay, that’s it for today. Follow the passers-by and listen to what the passers-by said. See you in the next issue.
