Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Donate your vehicle during the month of April or May and you'll be entered into a $500 Visa gift card drawing!

One Scientist's Quest: Improving The Flavor Of Commercial Tomatoes

Professor Harry Klee. (Tyler Jones/University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)
Professor Harry Klee. (Tyler Jones/University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)

Grocery store tomatoes are bred for yield and firmness, not for flavor.

And even though taste is relative, researchers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, believe they can come up with varieties of delicious tomatoes that will also appeal to commercial growers.

“A large part of the problem here with the American diet is we’ve produced a whole lot of foods that just have lost their flavor, and people aren’t that interested in eating them,” molecular biologist and horticulturalist Harry Klee, who’s leading the tomato research, told Here & Now.

Guest

  • Harry Klee, professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.