Why Tomatoes Taste Sour or Bitter – How to Remedy the Bitter Taste of Tomatoes
Luckily, this has never happened to me, but I have met other people who wonder why they have bitter-tasting tomatoes. I’m very picky about my fruit and I’m afraid this experience will wean me off tomatoes immediately! The question is: why do tomatoes taste bitter, even sour?
Why are my homemade tomatoes sour?
There are more than 400 volatile compounds in tomatoes that give them their flavour, but the predominant factors are acid and sugar. Whether a tomato tastes sweet or sour is also often a matter of taste – its flavour. There are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes with what seems to be more and more choices, so there is definitely a tomato for you.
One thing that most people can agree on is that when something tastes bad In this case, tomatoes that taste sour or bitter. What causes garden tomatoes to taste bitter? It could be the variety. Perhaps you grow fruits that are particularly acidic, which translates into a sour taste for your taste buds.
Tomatoes that are high in acid and low in sugar tend to be very sour. Brandywine, Stupice and Zebra are all varieties of high acid tomatoes. Most high quality tomatoes have a balance of acid and sugar. I say the most, because, again, we all have our own preferences. Here are a few examples:
- Mortgage lift
- Black Krim
- Mr. Stripey
- Celebrity
- Big child
Smaller cherry and grape tomatoes also tend to have higher sugar concentrations than larger varieties.
Prevention of the bitter taste of tomatoes
In addition to choosing tomatoes that are said to be high in sugar and low in acid, other factors combine to affect the taste of the tomato. The colour, believe it or not, has something to do with the acidity of a tomato. Yellow and orange tomatoes tend to taste less acidic than red tomatoes. It is actually a combination of the sugar and acid levels and other compounds that make the taste sweeter.
There are some things you can do to produce sweet and tasty tomatoes. Healthy plants with many leaves receive more sunlight and produce dense foliage that is able to convert more light into sugar. So it’s obvious that taking care of your plants will help you get the tastiest fruit.
A lot of organic matter must be included in the soil, as well as potassium and sulphur. Avoid giving plants too much nitrogen, which will result in healthy green foliage and little else. Fertilize tomatoes first with a low nitrogen fertilizer, 5-10-10, then cover them with a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer AFTER the tomatoes begin to flower.
Keep the plants constantly watered until the fruit appears. Afterwards, the plants should be watered moderately while the fruits are ripening, as dry soil concentrates the aromatic compounds.
I mean, tomatoes are sun worshippers. The abundance of sunshine, ideally 8 full hours a day, allows the plant to photosynthesize to its full potential, producing carbohydrates that are converted into sugars, acids and other aromatic compounds. If you live in a humid, cloudy region like mine (the Pacific Northwest), choose older varieties like San Francisco Fog and Seattles Best of All that tend to tolerate these conditions.
Tomatoes grow at 26 degrees Celsius during the day and 10-15 degrees Celsius at night. Higher temperatures affect fruit set and aromatic compounds, so be sure to choose the right type of tomato for your climate region.
