[throwaway2037]

Why do tomatoes from Netherlands look so perfect, but taste so bland? I never understand it. I guess that they look perfect because they are grown in a green house, so no pests.

Real question: Why do tomatoes from south Europe taste so much better? Is it the sunshine, or the soil? Or is the gene stock of the tomatoes? Or... everything?

[xattt]

Tomatoes are a climacteric fruit, meaning they have a ripening period after which they start to decompose. Mass-produced climacteric fruits are picked underripe to ensure stability during transport.

The flavours that make garden-fresh tomatoes develop only when the fruit is allowed to ripen on the vine. As a result, you’re very likely not to have full flavour from supermarket fruit.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6895250/

[adrianN]

Tomatoes in supermarkets are varieties that are optimized to survive transport and storage and are not harvested at peak ripeness.

[novaRom]

But tomatoes from Spain and Morocco taste much better than those from Netherlands even if transport is significantly longer - how to explain it?

[phito]

IME all store tomatoes taste bland because they were picked unripe for transport. That's why it's recommended to use canned tomatoes whenever you can, they are much tastier as they are picked at the right time and quickly canned.

[leni536]

That's not my experience.

[locallost]

It's the sun, which the tomatoes need. Additionally my guess is most of the tomatoes in the Netherlands are grown in greenhouses which are usually coated with UV protection, and the tomatoes do well with UV light.

I have tomatoes myself and this year they haven't tasted that great, and there's been a lot of rain and little sunshine compared to prior years. In the south of Europe you can grow the tomatoes outside although I think these days the commercial ones are also grown in e.g. polytunnels because they can get the products faster to the market.

[kome]

I think it's the soil. My intuition is that Dutch tomatoes grow in hydroponics or a similar environment that is poor in minerals and other micronutrients. I am sure they could replicate the soil and flavor of an Italian tomato, but perhaps it would be too expensive to do so. But in the supermarket, the word "Dutch" on a tomato is a scarlet letter: I know I'm not going to buy it.

[ccozan]

Mainly soil and the climate. I have imported soil and I get in my garten incredibly tasty tomatoes. Sun is sparse so they take longer to ripe but the taste is original.