Why You Think You Hate Vegetables

Today we’re talking about the simple truths of home-grown food vs commercial farming. Why doesn't it taste like store bought?!

I’m going to kick off this post by saying that I'm going to be using the tomato as my main example today because most people have had a store bought tomato and even the fancy organic ones don't impress. They have very little flavor and even the texture can sometimes be off putting. Whereas those who have tasted a home grown tomato know that a good ripe tomato is juicy, sweet and aromatic.

The simple answer is this, a homegrown tomato is picked off the plant when ripe, while store bought tomatoes are picked under ripe. For this reason a tomato from your garden will always have more sugar content. 

So why are fruits and vegetables picked under ripe for stores? 

They do this to keep the produce shelf-stable for longer. Fruit and veggies transported unripe are hard and green, making it easier to transport. This is to control quality and, in a way, control the ‘ripening’ process. The result is produce that lacks flavor and even nutrition. 

Yep, that's right, a home grown tomato has more nutritional value than a store bought one. Modern intensive agriculture has its flaws. The farm soil in the U.S. , overused and stripped of its natural minerals, cant produce a harvest with the same nutritional value as it once did. Crops are planted, dusted in fungicides, pesticides and then watered in with chemical fertilizers on a repeat cycle year after year. Then the produce is picked from the plants premature and artificially ripened. 

Artificial ripening is most commonly done with ethylene gas, which is a natural gas that's completely food safe. Fruits actually naturally produce this gas as they ripen but since the fruit is still on the plant it's still allowed to develop its natural flavor and texture. Commercially, they stick the produce, whether it be apples, bananas, lemons, mangos ect, into a chamber to expose them to the gas. The issue is that ripening in this unnatural way does basically nothing to actually bring the food to what a person typically thinks of as ripe. They don't taste better, they aren't more nutritious, they just soften up and change color. 

This is a difference you can taste in so many foods. One I’m personally excited to try this year is greens. I've heard gardeners online rave that lettuce from their own gardens is totally a game changer. And I can say for fact that I can never bring myself to buy store bought tomato. 

Tip: Berries like strawberry and blueberry in the frozen aisle are more nutritious than from the fresh produce section. What does the farming industry do with fruit that is truly ripe when harvested? It doesn't make the cut for the grocery store and gets sold for frozen bagged produce. If I must buy fruit, this is the only way I do it now, just be sure to read the back of the package to make sure there's no weird additives or added sugar.

It's a horrible system in commercial farming, right? For this reason, when people tell me they don't like this fruit or that veggie, I tell them you have to try home grown. Whether that means growing your own tomato plant or simply going to the farmers market instead of the grocery store. Your health is totally worth the extra bit of work.