wrote in message
oups.com...
AFAIK thay are tomatoes allowed to ripen naturally, most tomatoes in
the shops are picked green, then artificially ripened when they arrive
in the UK. They certainly do ahve a much nicer taste that the
equivalent loose ones.

Mike
I find this interesting....how long have they been imported this way in the
UK...for many years on the western edges of the big puddle tomatoes have
been shipped from Florida to the north via a lorry filled with ethylene
gas...by the time they arrive up north they too have been converted from
green to red...taste wis would just as soon eat cardboard. We too now have
the 'vine ripened' ones. While better than the lorry ripened ones they are
still far from the local or home grown jobbies....but not worth the asking
price....H