Is the taste of a Tomato affected by what it's been grown in?

29 May 2012

Part of the show Making a Meal out of Microbes

tomatoes.jpg

Question

What about the growing medium? How does that affect the flavour? I grew some tomatoes in normal soil and they tasted fantastic. My son grew the same tomato plant, but used compost and they tasted rubbish. Does soil make all the difference?

Answer

We put this question to Harry Klee...

Harry - Oh yeah, soil makes a huge difference. Most of the commercial tomatoes are actually grown in greenhouse as hydroponically so they don't even have any soil and it does impact it. Wine growers have known this. Wine grape growers rather have known this for years.