sarah wrote:

Noises Off wrote:


Alan Holmes wrote:


'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the
shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

Isn't the main point of the 'vine' so that the check-out
person can distinguish them from ordinary tomatoes? And
charge you more.


nah, the plastic packaging and bar code do that :-)

Err, well, in the nicest possible way, err, no. In this
piece of paradise I call my own (south/central London) I
have seen loose 'vine' tomatoes in Marks & Sparks and
Costcutter.

Noises Off

Noises Off wrote:

sarah wrote:

Noises Off wrote:


Alan Holmes wrote:


'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the
shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

Isn't the main point of the 'vine' so that the check-out
person can distinguish them from ordinary tomatoes? And
charge you more.


nah, the plastic packaging and bar code do that :-)

Err, well, in the nicest possible way, err, no. In this
piece of paradise I call my own (south/central London) I
have seen loose 'vine' tomatoes in Marks & Sparks and
Costcutter.

I guess Waitrose doesn't trust its staff to recognise them :-)

regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.

"sarah" wrote in message
k...
Noises Off wrote:

sarah wrote:

Noises Off wrote:


Alan Holmes wrote:


'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the
shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

Isn't the main point of the 'vine' so that the check-out
person can distinguish them from ordinary tomatoes? And
charge you more.


nah, the plastic packaging and bar code do that :-)

Err, well, in the nicest possible way, err, no. In this
piece of paradise I call my own (south/central London) I
have seen loose 'vine' tomatoes in Marks & Sparks and
Costcutter.

I guess Waitrose doesn't trust its staff to recognise them :-)

regards
sarah
Think of it as evolution in action.

**********
30-odd answers to a simple question and all wrong.
Vine. -- Climbing or trailing plant with a woody stem, - esp. bearing
grapes.
Grapes grow on a stem and immediately divide into a close cluster.
"Vine tomatoes" is a misnomer because those called vine tomatoes grow
alongside each other in pairs down a *single stem*. Therefore they are not
growing in a cluster like a bunch of grapes.
Now hear this.
I always grow "some" of my tomatoes in such a fashion. i.e.Five stems up a
single trunk , each tomato alongside each other hanging down on a single
stem.
The other tomatoes I grow have a different habit. They don't grow hanging
down a single stem. They grow hanging down in a single cluster, all clusters
separate from each other and growing up a single trunk which bear five
trusses,each truss separate form each other by reason of different height on
the main trunk of the tomato plant..
It's all due to the breed of the tomato.
BTW, The single stemmed "in-line" tomatoes which we import at high prices
take a long time to properly ripen even though when you buy them they are
red coloured, but when you cut them open they are whitish inside and taste
horrible.
Doug.
***********

Alan Holmes wrote:

'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

I remember well when they were first introduced. Then, they weren't called
vine tomatoes, or tomatoes on the vine, they were *vine-ripened* tomatoes,
and that's what they we tomatoes that had - god forbid! - actually been
allowed to ripen on the plant before being harvested and sold, so the
fruit you got had a discernable level of flavour. They were fabulous!

Now, these cost more to produce, since they have to be handled more
carefully, and there's more spoilage, but supermarkets found that people
were willing to pay a premium for them, so they were a viable product.
Soon after, however, supermarkets discovered that actually, people would
pay the premium even for unripe tomatoes, as long as they were on a vine,
having built up a Pavlovian cargo-cult response. Since rock-hard,
tasteless, unripe tomatoes are much cheaper to produce, selling 'vine
unripened' tomatoes (with the name changed to protect the guilty) was
money for old rope. Supermarkets do love a bit of money for old rope, and
since most shoppers are thick enough to buy said second-hand cord, vine
tomatoes have completely displaced vine-ripened tomatoes on the modern
shelf.

Oh, for the sunlit uplands of the late 90s, when ripe tomatoes could be
had on every high street!

tom

--
now you're under control and now you do what we told you

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...
Alan Holmes wrote:

'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

I remember well when they were first introduced. Then, they weren't called
vine tomatoes, or tomatoes on the vine, they were *vine-ripened* tomatoes,
and that's what they we tomatoes that had - god forbid! - actually been
allowed to ripen on the plant before being harvested and sold, so the
fruit you got had a discernable level of flavour. They were fabulous!

Now, these cost more to produce, since they have to be handled more
carefully, and there's more spoilage, but supermarkets found that people
were willing to pay a premium for them, so they were a viable product.
Soon after, however, supermarkets discovered that actually, people would
pay the premium even for unripe tomatoes, as long as they were on a vine,
having built up a Pavlovian cargo-cult response. Since rock-hard,
tasteless, unripe tomatoes are much cheaper to produce, selling 'vine
unripened' tomatoes (with the name changed to protect the guilty) was
money for old rope. Supermarkets do love a bit of money for old rope, and
since most shoppers are thick enough to buy said second-hand cord, vine
tomatoes have completely displaced vine-ripened tomatoes on the modern
shelf.

Oh, for the sunlit uplands of the late 90s, when ripe tomatoes could be
had on every high street!

One of the best things about our organic veg delivery is the taste of the
tomatoes. That is, the tomatoes actually have a taste.

Nik

"Nik" wrote in message
...


One of the best things about our organic veg delivery is the taste of the
tomatoes. That is, the tomatoes actually have a taste.



I'm not sure that it is the organic status but rather the short time from
the picking of optimumly ripe fruit to delivery.
Graham

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...
Alan Holmes wrote:

'Vine' tomatoes are becomming fairly common in the shops, but:-

What, exactly, are 'Vine' tomatoes?

I remember well when they were first introduced. Then, they weren't called
vine tomatoes, or tomatoes on the vine, they were *vine-ripened* tomatoes,
and that's what they we tomatoes that had - god forbid! - actually been
allowed to ripen on the plant before being harvested and sold, so the
fruit you got had a discernable level of flavour. They were fabulous!

Now, these cost more to produce, since they have to be handled more
carefully, and there's more spoilage, but supermarkets found that people
were willing to pay a premium for them, so they were a viable product.
Soon after, however, supermarkets discovered that actually, people would
pay the premium even for unripe tomatoes, as long as they were on a vine,
having built up a Pavlovian cargo-cult response. Since rock-hard,
tasteless, unripe tomatoes are much cheaper to produce, selling 'vine
unripened' tomatoes (with the name changed to protect the guilty) was
money for old rope. Supermarkets do love a bit of money for old rope, and
since most shoppers are thick enough to buy said second-hand cord, vine
tomatoes have completely displaced vine-ripened tomatoes on the modern
shelf.

Oh, for the sunlit uplands of the late 90s, when ripe tomatoes could be
had on every high street!

tom now you're under control and now you do what we told you

**********
I agree with your final paragraph which ends..., 'tomatoes on the modern
shelf'.
All contributors to this thread have ignored the real truth, - which is, -
Those tasteless tomatoes are being grown in carefully controlled conditions
and all encompasses the real reason they are awful.
They are grown in water.
Doug.
**********