Cold tomatoes last longer, taste worse

IF YOU store your tomatoes in the fridge, you might want to do your tastebuds a favour and think again. Storing them at anything below 12ºC washes out their flavour, scientists say.

They found it hampers the enzymes that develop the taste, meaning that while they may look red and juicy, they are likely to be “insipid”.

The discovery by academics at the University of Florida explains why a sun-ripened tomato from a European market stall tastes so much better than those on supermarket shelves. It also demonstrates the value of growing your own.

The researchers found that the tomatoes not only lost 65 percent of their flavour when refrigerated for a week at 5ºC, but that they didn’t regain their flavour after being returned to room temperature for up to three days.

The same would probably apply to other fruit and veg kept in the fridge. – Daily Mail