Thought those farmers market prices were a joke but the flavor difference is wild

I used to hit the Dekalb Farmers Market for produce but always skipped the pricier stalls near the entrance. Last Saturday I grabbed a $5 basket of tomatoes from one of those stands just to see. First bite was so much sweeter than the grocery store ones I've been eating for years. Has anyone else noticed a huge difference with the smaller vendors or am I just getting lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_oscar4d ago

Gotta push back on this a little. Did a blind taste test last year with a buddy who's a farmer's market evangelist. Cheap grocery store tomatoes actually won for my wife and me - they were more consistent and way less mushy. That $5 premium tag just gets you a story, not always better flavor.

daniel4744d ago

Whoa hold up, a blind taste test? That's actually a solid way to check. But I gotta ask - were those grocery store tomatoes the flavorless hothouse ones or the vine-ripened kind in the plastic clamshell? Because my experience has been that the regular hothouse ones are tough and taste like water, while the good vine-ripened ones can sometimes beat a farmer's market tomato if you catch them at the right time. The mushy problem you mentioned is real with heirlooms though, they bruise way too easy.