A couple of days ago I wrote that the practice of breeding commercial vegetable varieties for appearance at the expense of all other qualities over the last 50 years has resulted in a shocking decline in their nutritional value (“Eat your heritage vegetables“).
Now, A tomato grower in Florida has been prohibited by the marketing board from selling his produce because they are “too ugly”. The grower, Joe Procacci, has developed a variety called “UglyRipe” which was a result of breeding solely for flavour.
Procacci says he developed the UglyRipe because his customers complained that Florida tomatoes, which are picked green and gassed to spur ripening, tasted “like cardboard.”
Growers complain that Procacci’s UglyRipes could wreck the reputation of Florida tomatoes. To allow misshapen and blemished tomatoes could open the way for a flood of ugly tomatoes to hit the market, says Reggie Brown, the tomato committee’s manager.
God forbid we should be exposed to unattractive vegetables in the supermarket. Why not restrict all offerings to plastic produce, or maybe the wax varieties decorating grandma’s dining room table, and be done with it?
POLLENATRIX 