Tomatoes on the vine

[Chuckanut]

Today I noticed many people buying tomatoes still attached to the vine. What is the point of that other than paying $2.49 a pound for vine?

[Meadbh]

I think they taste better.

[Accidental Retiree]

I have tried those and would rather wait for those DH will grow. I have bought on the vine, but would rather do without and wait.

[ERD50]

We often buy the 'campari' tomatoes at Costco. If you are going to buy out-of-season, these are pretty good. No comparison to home-grown - but nothing is.

They come 'on the vine' - wouldn't make any difference to me one way or the other, but we buy them because they are a reasonably good value taste/$-wise. Can you suggest a better value for out-of-season tomatoes that are not sold 'on the vine'? If you can, I'll buy them and give them a try.

-ERD50

[bUU]

During the winter, those tomatoes on the vine are often then only ones in the store that taste even marginally recognizable as tomatoes. Paying for the vine effectively increases how much the seller gets for their crop; a higher price supports the costs of delivering higher quality product; etc. However, it is a gamble. You're playing the odds. You can never really tell how much better or worse they are, because the vine itself has such aroma that you cannot actually smell the tomatoes (and smell is one of the best ways of telling the difference between a tomato that tastes like a tomato and a tomato that tastes like cardboard) unless you (ahem) let one break off from the vine and smell it separately.

I look at it this way... if I've checked all the other tomatoes and confirmed that they are all completely worthless, I'll take a chance on the "overpriced" tomatoes on the vine, if there is a specific reason why we absolutely must have tomatoes that week.

Generally, though, I try to avoid such situations over the winter. It just seems pointless to me to work that hard against nature's inclination to provide us great tomatoes only over the summer.

[travelover]

For me, the vines prove that the tomatoes were actually grown as opposed to being injection molded like most winter tomatoes.

[MichaelB]

Tomato on the vine does make for good marketing.

[HFWR]

What's stopping you from removing the tomstoes from the vine before purchase?

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR What's stopping you from removing the tomstoes from the vine before purchase?

The shrinkwrap around the package and the produce department police.

I used canned diced tomatoes in winter for cooked things and use grape romatoes in salads.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever The shrinkwrap around the package and the produce department police. I used canned diced tomatoes in winter for cooked things and use grape romatoes in salads.

Where I usually shop, the tomatoes are not pre-packaged...

I use canned tomatoes for cooking, but like "fresh" for some things, like salad or taco fixins'.

Really like home grown, but the temps here in hell DFW pretty much stifle any growth after mid-July. You can grow the **** out of jalapenos, though...

[FUEGO]

I usually buy whatever is cheapest as long as they look and feel decently ripe and fresh. The vine on tomatoes are prepackaged and sold at a fixed price, not per pound, so I grab them if they are the cheapest option. They seem to keep fresh a little longer with the vine still on, but I have never paid close enough attention to be sure. I don't really like tomatoes so I'm not a good judge of whether the vine on tomatoes are superior in taste.

[HighRoller]

When I've got them in the garden we just "pick them off the vine". When we buy them in the store we often will buy them on the vine... Go figure....

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR What's stopping you from removing the tomstoes from the vine before purchase?

At the store where I purchase most of our produce, nothing stops you from removing the tomatoes from the vine and I usually do.

Ditto for removing the stems from portabello mushrooms.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever The shrinkwrap around the package and the produce department police.

Try Caputo's. I'm sure there is some variation from store to store, but in my neighborhood (very ethnically diverse) there is little shrink wrap or department police activity. But, like a street market, you have to be willing to elbow your way up to the piles of fruit and veggies and look, feel and smell carefully what you're buying because there is little effort made to sort bruised or otherwise damaged goods out of the pile.

Very competitive prices. Wide selection. Country of origin clearly labeled on everything.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR What's stopping you from removing the tomstoes from the vine before purchase?

Tom might object...

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Tom might object...

Standing at 1.5 inches, weighing in at approx 0.1 ounce, the contender from East Nowhere, NY, in his ER forum debut, the one and only...

Mr Large Cherry Tomato

This guy would definitely object.

[imoldernu]

Real tomatoes are only available from July to October, from the plants in the back yard.

How could the growers have destroyed the Tomato?

“It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.” ~Lewis Grizzard

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Try Caputo's. I'm sure there is some variation from store to store, but in my neighborhood (very ethnically diverse) there is little shrink wrap or department police activity. But, like a street market, you have to be willing to elbow your way up to the piles of fruit and veggies and look, feel and smell carefully what you're buying because there is little effort made to sort bruised or otherwise damaged goods out of the pile. Very competitive prices. Wide selection. Country of origin clearly labeled on everything.

Darn--the closest Caputo's is 15 miles away.

[ratto]

Does the vine still have a lot of tiny hairs on it? If touched by finger, does the vine leave very strong and long lasting scent of fresh tomatoes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu Real tomatoes are only available from July to October, from the plants in the back yard.

Here's one from mine. IMO, even the green ones salvaged from blight attack, once turned red after being left on window sill for a week or even longer, can taste at least as good as those on the vine bought from store.

[veremchuka]

I love tomatoes that's why I pick them in my garden and only eat them from July to late September. I don't understand why anyone would buy tomatoes outside of that time frame because they are reddish pulp. I buy puree or diced for soup base or sauce but never whole tomatoes.