Do you buy ugly food?

I was in the grocery today getting way too excited about buying produce and found myself spending quite a long time at each item making sure the one I grabbed was perfect. Then I remembered the ugly food movement and thought to myself, I should grab this tomato with the crack in it. I didn't. Why? I can't even explain myself. I suppose some things I want to look perfect in the store because I want them to last longer. I bought bell peppers and I wouldn't touch a wrinkly one as I figure it's shelf life is quite shortened. Now, I intend to make them all this week but some of them will probably not get used until next. We like bell peppers on our pizza so when I buy one I hope to stretch it over several Friday Pizza nights. Anyway, I failed the ugly food movement. Do you?

I grow primarily to get seeds. Therefore, the most perfect produce that I grow stays in the field. I take the seconds to the farmer's market... The things that are cracked, blemished, damaged, or bitten get fed to my family and friends. If I'm buying food I want it to look great. If I'm growing food or trading for food then I don't care what it looks like.

I was selling wild harvested apples for $1 per pound, when a customer pointed out a few bug bites. Another customer then said "That's because they aren't sprayed with poison." I put a few free ones in her bag. It's great to have educated customers.

I wish that someone would educate my (potential) customers about 'heirloom tomatoes'. The people that ask me that question generally don't have a clue what they are asking for, they've just read somewhere that they aught to ask that question... All that inbreeding sure turned them into an ugly bunch of tomatoes!!!

To make my life easier, I end up saying 'No Heirlooms Here!!!', even though what I am growing is exactly what they are really asking for. The farmer's market doesn't seem like the right venue to be explaining definitions, and nuances of history, and tasting panels, and inbreeding, and uniform ripening genes. On market day, I feel like I should be a farmer, not a teacher...

Why am I opposed to saying that I'm growing heirlooms?

The most straight forward definition of heirloom is a variety that has been grown for 50 to 60 years or more... So that means many many generations of inbreeding. I have trialed about a hundred varieties of heirloom tomatoes. There weren't any of them that grew well enough on my farm to want to grow again. What's up with that? Heirlooms were developed for specific farms... There are not any heirlooms that I can find that were developed specifically for my farm, or even for my region... Some people are willing to say that varieties that were released this year are heirlooms. I'm not one of those people. So putting all that together, heirlooms are varieties that were developed in far away lands and times and have been intensely inbred ever since... It's no wonder they don't grow well for me.

So why are people asking for heirlooms? Turns out that tasting panels have found that most people prefer the taste of tomatoes with the 'green shoulder' gene, and not the 'uniform ripening' gene that modern commercial tomatoes contain. So uglier tomatoes taste better... But uglier in a specific way, 'green shoulders' and not catfacing or fluting or cracking which are so common among heirlooms. Sophisticated buyers would be able to look at the tomatoes on the table and see with their own eyes whether they are 'uniform ripening' or 'green shouldered'. There is no reason to ask the farmer. If a tomato is green shouldered, does it really matter whether it is a modern hybrid created by the farmer, or if it's an open pollinated tomato that was created 5 years ago? Or 60 years ago? Who's attention span is that long at the farmer's market? Easier just to blow people off.

Green shoulder trait on an F1 hybrid tomato grown in my garden this spring. Made by crossing two of my favorite open pollinated tomatoes.

I am not particularly sophisticated on tomatoes and admit that I never eat them. The grocery store tomatoes are gross! Anyway, how can you tell if they have green shoulder? The green on top? lol

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I wish that someone would educate my (potential) customers about 'heirloom tomatoes'. The people that ask me that question generally don't have a clue what they are asking for, they've just read somewhere that they aught to ask that question... All that inbreeding sure turned them into an ugly bunch of tomatoes!!!

To make my life easier, I end up saying 'No Heirlooms Here!!!', even though what I am growing is exactly what they are really asking for. The farmer's market doesn't seem like the right venue to be explaining definitions, and nuances of history, and tasting panels, and inbreeding, and uniform ripening genes. On market day, I feel like I should be a farmer, not a teacher...

Why am I opposed to saying that I'm growing heirlooms?

The most straight forward definition of heirloom is a variety that has been grown for 50 to 60 years or more... So that means many many generations of inbreeding. I have trialed about a hundred varieties of heirloom tomatoes. There weren't any of them that grew well enough on my farm to want to grow again. What's up with that? Heirlooms were developed for specific farms... There are not any heirlooms that I can find that were developed specifically for my farm, or even for my region... Some people are willing to say that varieties that were released this year are heirlooms. I'm not one of those people. So putting all that together, heirlooms are varieties that were developed in far away lands and times and have been intensely inbred ever since... It's no wonder they don't grow well for me.

So why are people asking for heirlooms? Turns out that tasting panels have found that most people prefer the taste of tomatoes with the 'green shoulder' gene, and not the 'uniform ripening' gene that modern commercial tomatoes contain. So uglier tomatoes taste better... But uglier in a specific way, 'green shoulders' and not catfacing or fluting or cracking which are so common among heirlooms. Sophisticated buyers would be able to look at the tomatoes on the table and see with their own eyes whether they are 'uniform ripening' or 'green shouldered'. There is no reason to ask the farmer. If a tomato is green shouldered, does it really matter whether it is a modern hybrid created by the farmer, or if it's an open pollinated tomato that was created 5 years ago? Or 60 years ago? Who's attention span is that long at the farmer's market? Easier just to blow people off.

Green shoulder trait on an F1 hybrid tomato grown in my garden this spring. Made by crossing two of my favorite open pollinated tomatoes.

elle sagenev: I don't care for the taste of raw tomatoes. But since I'm a plant breeder I have to taste a lot of them. Blech! I end up selecting not for tomatoes that taste good, but for tomatoes that taste less horrid. Another trait that commercial tomatoes use is what I think of as the hardness (cardboard) gene. It's included so that they can ship long distances without disintegrating. I can't even get my tomatoes 10 miles to the farmer's market without significant losses.

Anyway, here's what some fully ripe green-shouldered tomatoes look like.

Ugly Food.... I'm older and when I was young my parents both worked but in their tradition(thesouth) bought food by the bushel and canned , made apple sauce, froze veggies etc... did you get some ugly food hell yes. we would just cut out the bad. When I was a kid a truck farm guy drove down from PA and would sell fresh produce and eggs out of his truck. Ugly food there too, you bought what he had. Prices were negotiable and him and my mom would go round and round ... but he kept coming back. But we had a large family and I now have 5 kids. the typical family these days is much smaller and most people buy prepackaged crap. When they do buy produce and fruit they expect perfection because they buy so little. I am working hard to grow great fruit and veggies but when you grow it yourself and consume everything you grow ... it all counts!

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:elle sagenev: I don't care for the taste of raw tomatoes. But since I'm a plant breeder I have to taste a lot of them. Blech! I end up selecting not for tomatoes that taste good, but for tomatoes that taste less horrid. Another trait that commercial tomatoes use is what I think of as the hardness (cardboard) gene. It's included so that they can ship long distances without disintegrating. I can't even get my tomatoes 10 miles to the farmer's market without significant losses.

Anyway, here's what some fully ripe green-shouldered tomatoes look like.

I'm hoping if I eat enough I'll get used to the taste. I do like cooking with them though, so good cooking tomatoes will be the goal I suppose.

I thought you were going to make a comment about how out of the ordinary heirloom tomatoes are. Well, yours are round and red but the black krim tomatoes are very lumpy and disfigured looking, even without any blemishes. It's a new way of looking at food for sure!

Heirloom doesn't have to equate with ugly. Sometimes it's a case of less productive, shorter shelf life, too soft for shipping., poor disease resistance...that sort of thing.

As for tomato flavor, so much depends upon the variety and the growing conditions. I grew super luscious tomatoes in NJ, but not every year. Some years were better than others. Here in Hawaii the tomato flavor ranges from acceptable to so-so to bland to bitter. In 14 years I've never grown a tomato that even comes close to the flavor I got in NJ. NJ tomatoes were the best and we could eat them three meals a day. Here in Hawaii I seldom reach for a raw tomato.

As for ugly, if I didn't eat my ugly veggies I would starve. I grow my own food now. Once upon a time I bought everything from the store and always reached for the perfect veggies. If I were to go back to store bought, I'd reach for the perfect ones.......unless ugly was cheaper.

I often make ugly cheaper, by pointing out flaws to the produce guy who often marks stuff down to make it move. I shop at an organic market, where less than perfect is usually marked down by 50%. Milk, yogurt, bread and bananas go into the freezer. Really ripe bananas have lost weight as they ripened and the percentage of skin is less. Half price frozen bananas are used for smoothies.

When I harvest wild fruit, I pick almost everything, then grade sort. Many people prefer the cheapest bug bitten ones.

If I'm in a grocery store setting where everything is the same price and I'm just buying one or two things, I pick the nicest, ripest, yummiest looking produce. I prefer to buy bulk in season though, especially for fruit, and often happily opt for cases of #2 fruit in that case. The price is right, and who cares if I'm canning it or chopping it up to freeze anyway?

I got a great deal on some pears last year that had been hit by a late frost in the spring. It made them a little lopsided with a few brown spots on the skin, is all. They were still organic, still delicious, and less than half the price of perfect fruit.

Buying at the store or farmers market., I am more concerned about bruises that reduce the yield of edible food and the right ripeness to be at peak when I want to use it (often a couple days away). A blemish in the skin is not a concern.

I buy all the bruised apples I can come cider making time, at a suitable discount.

I consider food three grades: perfect, blems and petfood. Perfect is the stuff in the store usually. I had relatives in Washington State back for the family reunion in ND, and they were buying all the Washington apples they could get, they were getting seconds or thirds at home-all the good stuff was shipped out.

Blems are the stuff the store sells as half price. Judicious choosing can get you deals. Or often what Farmer Market foods look like. It has a few bug bites, blemishes, scarring, lopsided and bruises (from handling to get to the market). Near the end of the day/session, I like to go around and score tomatoes, peppers, peaches, etc; as 'nobody else wanted it' and I'll make an offer on the lot so they don't have to lug it back home. I consider I will lose perhaps 20% of my harvest to weather, and natural preying (bugs and critters) of anything above ground. I plant accordingly.

Petfoot can be sauce, juice, or compost. They're the buggy or beyond prime (past ripe) or had another issue. If they aren't outwardly diseased, they go in the compost at least.

Neighborly trading, Blems are definitely acceptable. Small is okay too as long as there's enough to make it worth while.

Not everything can look photo-perfect, it's still edible. If you're hungry, the third class suddenly gets a lot better.

Comment about a particular tomato, "Mr. Stripey" it is a yellow/red mid to large heirloom. IF it is grown with day temps no warmer than 80-85, it does well. If you have warmer summers, it does very poorly. I have tasted this one and it's really good if it gets what it wants. I am too warm to grow it.

Comments about tomatoes: afternoon tree shade when you're warmer than about 4a growzone helps. As does protection from the prevailing wind especially in near freezing weather or very hot weather. Plant French Marigolds, at least 2, 4 is better, around each plant within six inches of the base of the plant. Or get the marigold variety 'Nema-gone'. This will help immensely with root nematodes and make for better plants and production.  @ Su Ba: Hawaii is too hot for most tomatoes. Hence you get what you describe for flavor. I can get great tomatoes but it is through some serious effort to provide an environment that they like. And not all varieties work well, I have several that have been total failures here that should have done well. Cat-facing (cracking) is common with bigger 'beefsteak' varieties. I don't discount that when looking at those fruit, and I educate others to that too. Just cut the top slice off a little thicker and the rest is fine. @Elle Sagenev, I prefer mine cooked as well unless I can get a truly vine ripe brandywine. Especially a pink brandywine. Those are tomato candy. They are huge plants though, on the order of Delicious (which are usually such a late season here that by the time they decide to fruit, it's frost) and I built 7' tall (installed) tomatocages about 2' x2' and built of calf panels cut and bent (two Vee's that interlock to make a square tube) to handle the plants. Sometimes they need steel fenceposts too. This year our summer temps are hanging close to 100f so fruit setting is going to be sparse this year for tomatoes.

Unless something has a bacterial or fungal lesion smell is more important than looks to me.  If a perfect tomato doesn't smell like a tomato it won't have any flavor.  And I love raw tomatoes but not the sweet ones.  

Can someone describe the flavor of the green shouldered tomato vs the other kind?

Thanks.

Robert Cantor wrote:Unless something has a bacterial or fungal lesion smell is more important than looks to me.  If a perfect tomato doesn't smell like a tomato it won't have any flavor.  And I love raw tomatoes but not the sweet ones.  

Can someone describe the flavor of the green shouldered tomato vs the other kind?

Thanks.

In my experience, the green shouldered tomatoes actually taste like a tomato. They have the sweetness, acidity, and aromatic fruity flavors typical to a tomato. The best tomatoes I have ever tasted are green shouldered, and usually cherry tomatoes.

We grow a lot of tomatoes on the farm where I work, and it's a very important cash crop for us. Our top seller is a green shouldered heirloom tomato called 'Cherokee Purple'. It tastes great, but it catfaces like crazy - some of the ugliest misshaped freak tomatoes I've ever laid eyes upon.

I've also observed that the flavor can vary from year to year in tomatoes. One of my favorite hybrid tomatoes doesn't taste like anything this year. What a shame.

As far as ugly food, sometimes the uglier the better! The cantaloupes/honeydews with the rough groundspots were actually ripe when they were picked. The nice smooth ones with the perfect rind were picked under ripe and even after they've laid around a long time, they will always be inferior in taste. The same goes for watermelons. I've got a nice ugly cantaloupe that's really stinking up the place - I'm going to massacre it for breakfast tomorrow.

I'd rather taste beauty in my mouth than try to eat it with the eyes.

Cherokee Purple is great, and it's in that 'beefsteak' family so yes, it catfaces and often only it's gardener could love it it's so ugly, but man the taste.

Pink Brandywine, is not SWEET, though ripe, its totally wonderfully righteous tomato. I will sometimes cut one in half, lick it as it's so good, then start scarfing. Cutting around the catfaces, the weird fused bottoms, and the bug holes. (to get around that I make bags from sheer curtains with yarn drawstrings and bag the fruit, tying to gather at the stem, and putting the bags on when they're at about 6 oz  (and sizing the bag for a pound and a half). It will let moisture evaporate, keep the bugs from killing one the day before it's ripe, and shade it a little. It also makes easier later to find the fruit to harvest it.)  If you don't like raw tomatoes, you have to try a fully vine ripe brandywine. And getting a perfect one? Hah.

Can someone describe the flavor of the green shouldered tomato vs the other kind?  

A green shouldered tomato can be sweet ripe on the bottom while crisp tart at the stem. With a cherry tomato you can get a burst of all the flavors at once when you pop it in your mouth. For larger ones slice from top to bottom to get the full range.
Uniform ripening tomatoes are just that the same flavor all the way through no matter how you slice it. The flavor can be too tart if not ripe enough  too bland if picked unripe and held until ripe.
I am getting my best flavor with the tomatoes in a wicking barrel in the greenhouse where the night temperature is nominally 45F at night and above 90F for an hour or two some days. I believe they get polinated in the morning the soil is constantly damp from the reservoir but they get just enough heat stress to enhance the flavor.

I believe that looks is not what is important for most people, after all, it is food, not art. But when we see perfect looking food we automatically think of it as more nutritious, in it's prime, longer lasting. It is not always the case, but we feel more comfortable when we can't see anything that might look like trouble  

What is 'ugly' in fruits and veggies? If I can buy fruits which are 'very ripe', with some spots on it, for a lower price than the spotless fruits ... I have two reasons for buying those 'ugly' fruits: I prefer the riper taste, and I do not have that much money to spend!
When I know the grower 'made' those spotless fruits by using 'pesticides', or by 'selecting out' (and then throwing away) all not-so-spotless fruits ... I don't want to buy those spotless fruits. I prefer the 'uglier' fruits, organically grown, maybe even in permaculture! Of course their taste is better too!

While I don't care for this company, Walmart is getting into the Ugly Food thing. Which in the long run might help grow the movement as it will likely expose a lot more people to cosmetic issues don't change the flavor.

My ugliest apples are on the tree that is the farthest from the house and they are the most delicious.

In Canada , there are grocery stores who have ugly food bins markdown from the regular price to encourage people to buy imperfect food. I personally always go to the markdown racks in my local stores and check to see if there is anything I can use on those markdown racks before I go to the other bins. I hate to see perfectly good food go to waste because it has a mark on it or it's not perfectly the right shape. We have to learn as consumers that taste and nutrition sometimes have nothing to do with a perfect appearance. Too much of our food is bred to ship and store long term with no regard to taste. I love ugly food and ugly tomatoes. I grow them and I hate them.

Matu Collins wrote:My ugliest apples are on the tree that is the farthest from the house and they are the most delicious.

My ugliest tomatoes are often guarded by a huge orbspinner spider but they are worth catching her in a jar and relocating her so I can get at them. Predatory passers by though, she often makes the best guard ever. Worth the nerve wracking bit of catching an arachnid....  And if nothing else I do the chunk them up, olive oil drizzle and herbs and bake roast them, then freeze. Best way ever to process blems and seconds for later delicious cooking and eating.

When ever I go to the store I always look at the discount bins first.  I have found some perfect, if ugly, food there.  Many times I buy a lot and dehydrate or can it.  We have a pressure cooker that doubles as a canner and it is so easy to can 1 or 2 pints or quarts.

We always call the weird looking veggies "farmer food" and leave the perfect looking ones for the customers.  I don't usually go looking for ugly food but we do eat a lot of it!  Most of the produce at our grocery stores is uniform and "perfect"

The county fair has a contest for oddest looking vegetable.  This might be my favorite thing about the county fair.

I like to take fully ripe berries to the co-op on delivery day.  To avoid the ugliness of mashed berries they are usually picked not quite ripe. My customers have come to know the flavor difference.  I pack them in paper restaurant take out cartons that are leak proof. One of the customers complements was that she could pour ot every drop of the delicious juice. One of the advantages of our on line co-op order system is that there is only one or 2 hours between pick and pick-up

Matu Collins wrote:We always call the weird looking veggies "farmer food" and leave the perfect looking ones for the customers.  I don't usually go looking for ugly food but we do eat a lot of it!  Most of the produce at our grocery stores is uniform and "perfect"

The county fair has a contest for oddest looking vegetable.  This might be my favorite thing about the county fair.

We've had a tomato contest for many years and one prize (usually with one really fugly ribbon made by the award/trophy/ribbon place is the "ugly lady' prize) for about $10... for ugliest tomato entered at the fair.

The normal tomato weighoff has a few rules about checking for if the often fugly weighty tomatoes are split stem or fused, and will take bug-eaten as long as they don't weep fluid directly into a kleenix held to the damage, and they have one person that has a surgeon's touch to pick up a fruit so over ripe it should have been composted three days ago to get it on the scale. (if it is not actively seeping they will take it as an entry and it has to stay intact through two sittings on the scale). Prize has varied but has hit $1000 at times.

It has definitely UPPED the entries at the fair. Which is why they do it. Our county fair is small and getting entries is always a challenge.

I realize this thread is quite old but I have a question:  Can you eat buggy tomatoes?  I have a few beautiful yellow tomatoes the size of a grapefruit.  But when I turn each one over its crawling with slugs and roly-polys.  Can I brush them off, cut the buggy part out, and eat them?

Rob Lineberger wrote:I realize this thread is quite old but I have a question:  Can you eat buggy tomatoes?  I have a few beautiful yellow tomatoes the size of a grapefruit.  But when I turn each one over its crawling with slugs and roly-polys.  Can I brush them off, cut the buggy part out, and eat them?

Yes you can use them, as you say cut off the nibbled bits and use them as soon as you pick them, they won't keep at all. my dwarf beef tomato plants always lose some to slugs, they look perfect on top but are hollow when you go to pick them :(

Eat buggy tomatoes? I do. The damaged sections will quickly rot/ferment, and the funk will spread quickly. I wash with soap and water, and ruthlessly excise the dodgy bits with a sharp knife. It's triage: some you can save, some you can't.

Your nose is your guide. If you trim and it smells perfectly tomato-ey, munch away.

If it smells musty, compost.

If it smells mildly fermenty or otherwise off, it's on the edge. Trim again and cook up in a sauce or soup. If in doubt, compost.

Bonus points if you do it with an axe.

You are what you eat so, yeah, I eat ugly food...

An interesting side point. The roly polys as you called them do not damage the fruit. the slugs do  that. The rolly poly come in to the damaged area and keep it clean so that it lasts longer.