Building A Better Tomato

The summer spoils us.It gives our gardens fresh fruit and veggies that are bursting with flavor.Then when fall comes we're stuck with the tasteless varieties from our supermarkets. That's all about to change thanks to genetic engineering.

It was an article in today's New York Times Science section and the author,, Kenneth Chan wrote about this new phenomenon and what scientists are doing to give us a better tomato, amongst other improved produce. The analysis shows that the people who were tasters all wanted a sweeter variety.This is what makes us crave tomatoes, that sweet tangy flavor.Geneticists also are tweaking the compounds that make the flavor,. Luckily,  it still means a low calorie tomato despite the amount of sugars involved. There will be hits and misses as more and more varieties will be dissected so to speak, It is expensive to break down a tomato's molecular being.

Other fruits and vegetables will be under the microscope as well.Strawberries and blueberries will also be improved to give us consumers that just picked from the woods taste.The blueberries have been known to be crispy with almost the texture of apples.This would be the perfect kind for pies or even compotes. because blueberries have a tendency to get super mushy when cooked. I'm hoping that there are plans on making a creamier fleshed avocado or a sweeter, less bitter grapefruit. If there is tremendous success with this, then other  genus  will also be tweaked and improved as well.

Can science build a better tomato? Yes and it will be sweeter and just  as tasty as our garden grown sun kissed ones. It's just the first step in trying to eat healthier.