[ghshephard]

Tomatoes are one of the few exceptions when it comes to canning - they always taste fresher and more tomato like than fresh store bought tomatoes - and are preferred in most recipes.

The third option, would be garden fresh/farm delivered tomatoes - but they have a shelf like of about 3 days and can't handle transport - so the odds of seeing them outside of a farmers market (or your backyard garden) - are next to nil.

[bigDinosaur]

It is not the case that canned tomatoes taste fresher at least in my experience. For one they have acidity added - on top of already acidic tomatoes - to reduce the risk of botulism or they're heated in the can which gives them a slightly odd taste, certainly not the same as freshly picked ripe tomatoes.

Maybe I've just only ever had inferior canned tomatoes, or the tomatoes I've grown have been particularly good.

[pigsty]

I do think everyone here is making the point that store-bought tomatoes are inferior to canned ones. Home-grown vegetables picked and consumed at the peak of ripeness will always be better than store-bought and artificially ripened, and the likelihood of them being better than canned/frozen is pretty high.

[bigDinosaur]

The original top level poster did just say 'from scratch' but I will grant that if 'store bought' is what people are discussing (as the comment I responded to was, I missed the word) that I do agree. That's mainly due to the tomatoes not being bred for flavour or picked long before ripening or stored long term as far as I know, though.