Dip Tomatoes in Warm Water Before Chilling to Enhance Their Flavor
Storing tomatoes in the refrigerator can prevent them from spoiling faster , but depending on the quality of the tomatoes and their ripeness, the tomatoes may suffer (in taste, texture and color) from chilling. One easy way to help tomatoes retain their flavor: Dip the tomatoes in warm water before refrigerating.
Plant physiologist Jinhe Bai presented thenew study at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. As Quartz explains:
A USDA team took fresh tomatoes from the stem and soaked them in 125 degrees Fahrenheit water for five minutes, allowed them to return to room temperature, and then went through the normal fruit cooling process.
The heated tomatoes retained more of their flavor and tasted better than those that hadn’t been heated before chilling, Bai said .
Food52 ran a blind taste test on two supermarket tomatoes, both chilled overnight, but one was first baked and the other was not. 8 out of 10 researchers concluded that preheated tomato tastes more “tomato-like”.
Although their test was small, it is worth trying on your own to get the possible boost in tomato flavor.
Scientists have an incredibly simple solution to improve the taste of tomatoes from supermarkets | Quartz via Food52