On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 20:48:41 -0500, Ann opined:

animaux expounded:

Oh, when you said farmers I thought you meant farmers. Greenhouse tomatoes are not really
tomatoes, are they? At least they don't taste like them. This being the case, I will
agree with you that, most hothouse tomatoes here in the States indeed are hybrids which
have very high yield with little to no taste...but weight.

Plastic tomatoes. Ugh. I look for (and pay for) the best tasting
tomatoes, usually the cluster tomatoes, at least they somewhat
resemble the real thing. The plastic tomatoes ship well, that's about
it!

Yes, they do have vine ripened tomatoes now on the commercial market. We are very
fortunate here in this part of the world as we have many farmers who grow tomatoes in
hothouses, but use heirloom varieties. Eating in season is promoted here, as well. Keeps
the small farmers in green all year!