If you don’t have your own garden, you need to buy your tomatoes in the store or in the marketplace. It is very difficult to find tomatoes that have been grown in natural circumstances and without chemicals. Ever since organic food has become the rage, many vegetables are called organic for no reason. That leads us to the question: what does a tomato look like if it is really organic?
Genetically modified tomatoes are very resistant, so it can be shipped to any part of the world, as most of them won’t spoil and will keep their consistency and color. Have you ever seen a tomato that looks like plastic? If you have ever eaten real homegrown tomatoes, you will never be able to enjoy those fake-looking ones anymore. However, there are people who think that tomatoes are bright red, tasteless and hard-skinned.
Some agricultural companies are specialized in growing tomatoes. These tomatoes will keep their consistency for at least 10 days, and have perfectly smooth skin without any blemishes. When you cut them, you will find a harder, greener layer right underneath the skin, which looks as if the tomato had a second skin. This is the layer that ensures that the tomato will stay fresh for up to 40 days. Such tomatoes, however, are almost tasteless. If you close our eyes, you will find it difficult to make a difference between a genetically modified apple and a tomato.
Organic tomatoes can be recognized by their softer and thinner skin. Also, if you cut them in two, you’ll find that they are fleshy and juicy inside, and they smell much nicer and richer. Most traditionally grown tomato plants bring forth fewer crops than hybrids, only four fruits on average on one stalk, so producers don’t like them very much. Compared to this, a hybrid tomato stalk grows dozens and dozens of perfect-looking fruit. Of course, the drawback is that it needs a lot of chemicals which will get into the tomatoes and then in our bodies.
One of the most dangerous herbicides is 2.4-D, which is banned within the European Union, but is still used in some countries. This chemical gets loaded up in the plant and becomes dangerous for the human body in higher concentrations.
Experts agree that it is the best to grow our own tomatoes. If you don’t have a garden, you can grow tomatoes on your balcony in a flowerpot. Using vertical gardening, you can even even grow a sufficient amount for the whole family.