NEW YORK If you buy tomatoes from John Banscher at his farmstand in New Jersey, he’ll recommend keeping them out of the fridge or they’ll lose some of their taste. Now scientists have figured out why: It’s because some of their genes chill out and are altered by cold temperatures , ultimately affecting the flavor.
You should be wondering “Why tomatoes should not be refrigerated?”
We conducted tests over two summers to find out. Standard wisdom dictates that ripe tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated. In theory, this is because cold kills their flavor-producing enzymes and ruins their texture by causing cells to rupture.
Why do Tomatoes need to be refrigerated before cooking?
The genes that cause ripe tomatoes to develop flavorful flavonoids are turned off in temperatures below the mid 50’s. Keep tomatoes on the kitchen counter until consumed, but cut tomatoes should be refrigerated .
Do Tomatoes need to be refrigerated?
One recurring question is the best way to store them. Our experts advise that it’s best not to keep tomatoes in the refrigerator because the environment is too cold for them. This week, researchers published a study that explained exactly what happens when tomatoes are refrigerated .
This is what we researched. standard wisdom dictates that ripe tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated, but cooking blogs have recently started challenging this thinking. We conducted tests over two summers to find out. Standard wisdom dictates that ripe tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated .
When I was researching we ran into the query “Why do tomatoes lose flavor when refrigerated?”.
One source proposed They’ve found tomatoes lose flavour in the fridge because some of their genes chill out . Cooling tomatoes below 12 degrees Celsius stops them from making some of the substances that contribute to their taste, according to researchers who dug into the genetic roots of the problem.
Why do tomatoes have to be room temperature before cooking?
Like tomatoes were always compared with like (so, no pitting a beefsteak against a cherry tomato), and all refrigerated tomatoes were allowed to come to room temperature before serving, to eliminate temperature bias . When other tasters were present, which was true the majority of the time, everyone but the server tasted blind.
Do refrigerated tomatoes turn red when you cut them?
Even before cutting into the tomatoes, I could see some differences. The standard tomatoes, for instance, had turned redder on the counter than they had in the fridge, though the difference was subtle. Note the yellow flecks on the skin of the refrigerator tomato on the right, compared with the redder skin of the countertop tomato on the left.
How long do cut tomatoes last in the fridge?
Cut tomatoes didn’t last more than a day at room temperature, but they held fine for up to two days in the refrigerator. In the future, we’ll move both cut and whole ripe tomatoes to the refrigerator to prolong their shelf life.
How long can tomatoes sit out before they go bad?
Three days of sitting at room temperature didn’t remedy that, and a taste test by 76 people confirmed the chilled tomatoes weren’t as good as fresh fruit. Tomatoes stored for just one or three days didn’t lose their aroma substances.
Do Tomatoes lose their aroma when they are frozen?
Tomatoes stored for just one or three days didn’t lose their aroma substances . Further research showed that the prolonged chilling reduced the activity of certain genes that make those compounds, Tieman said.
One way to think about this is put otherwise: Chilling may reduce flavor in tomato x because volatile compounds associated with flavor are sensitive to temperatures below 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 Fahrenheit). But the chief parameter is whether tomato x is flavorful in the first place.