Originally published at: The sweetest tomatoes are underripe | Boing Boing
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Well of course they didn’t. Just eating them and deciding which ones taste the nicest is the very antithesis of objective scientific enquiry. I mean, what use would that data be to anyone?
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Don’t forget that tomatoes are high in MSG. which is why they are paired with so many other foods. So while there might be a peak for flavor of a tomato alone, it might differ from from peak flavor when added to a burger or made into sauce.
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Because the insides are beautiful!
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If’n the sweetest tomatoes aren’t the ripest, it nearly calls into question what “ripe” means, don’t it? (“ripe == squeezy; doesn’t everyone know that?” ey, me Nerf ball’s nearly ripe)
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“Let us assume perfectly spherical cows…” 
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This headline doesn’t match what the article actually says as far as I can tell. The article says the sweetest tomatoes aren’t red and that some tomatoes are sweeter when they are not fully ripe. It doesn’t say the sweetest tomatoes are underripe.
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From a gardener’s perspective, at least, “sweetness” is not the best metric to judge quality by. Yellow tomatoes are much less acidic and blander than red ones, which (IMHO) is not a desirable characteristic. Classic red tomatoes have an acidic bite that makes them “tomato-y” in a way that just sweetness does not. Grocery store tomatoes and picked green for shippability and never really develop any flavor at all.
Of course, YMMV.
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Yeah, that’s an absolute divide in human culture: if you’ve eaten a homegrown tomato, you will never value the taste of grocery store counterfeits. You might put up with them in a pinch, but that’s it.
(Thanks for the blast from the past!)
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My reading is that it seems to be saying that tomato varieties with more chlorophyll also contain more sugar. But, that it is something modern breeders have mostly selected against in order to achieve uniform red color, aka heirloom varieties are often sweeter. I don’t see any discussion of or data suggesting riper fruits of a given variety become less sweet.
Which… this is kinda what we should naively expect, since chlorophyll is the compound through which plants make sugar. More chlorophyll–>more photosynthesis–>more sugar. If this weren’t true, we’d need to be asking either why the extra chlorophyll wasn’t making more sugar, or what the tomato was converting the sugar into.
Now I’m wondering whether uneven shapes also contribute to sweetness by creating more surface area for sunlight exposure.
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The assumption that sugar = sweet = better tasting is such an American stereotype.
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Maybe the sweetest, but not the best tasting. Unless you fry them.
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One thing we learned some time back is that if the application is for something other than a fresh salad or the like, roasting does help.
When I make salsa at home, I will use romas from the store, halve them and either roast them on my grill with the onions and chilis and garlic, or do it under the broiler in the oven. I don’t remove the skin from the tomatoes or the chilis, but I know some people prefer it removed.
Making spaghetti sauce… best to use good canned tomatoes, IMO.
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Sure, I want some sugars in my tomatoes, but I also want glutamate and acid. So what I want to know is: what ripeness is optimal for a nice balance of sweetness, umami, and tang?
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Nor does it say that the sweetest tomatoes are the tastiest, but it does imply it, with no evidence AFAICS.
‘Tastiest’ is subjective and some people find sweeter tastier and some find less sweet tastier.
Plus what @MissCellania said.
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Yep, those ugly Brandywines are some of the best! The variety makes a lot of difference. My personal favorite is Cherokee Purple, the perfect balance of acidity, sweetness and umami. They’re front center in this pic showing a typical morning harvest from my 2019 garden, plus some canning product. Last year and this have been total washouts.
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A fully ripe Beefsteak-style (I grow Brandywine) I live for tomato sandwiches in August. Summer on a plate!
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Just had one of the best Brandywines I’ve ever eaten a couple days ago out of the back yard. It was dizzying there for a minute after first bite. 
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Other commenters have touched on acidity or tang. I think acidity is a major factor in taste. I postulate (with no empirical evidence at all) that slightly unripe fruit that has maximum sugar content would also have excessive acidity, more than offsetting any additional sweetness that might be in place. As the fruit ripens further, the acid/sugar proportions come into optimal balance for what we perceive as the height of ripeness, even if the total sugar content has diminished. Further on in ripening, the balance goes off again, leading to the perception of over-ripeness. It’s the sugar/acid balance that makes for optimal flavor, not the most sugar.
Yep, that’s why supermarket tomatoes suck… everyone wants them out of season.
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