Killer Tomatoes
Last night I was contemplating ideas for dinner - not an easy task at Jef’s since he lives off ice cream and Craisins - I found some pesto mix I’d bought awhile back and figured tossed w/ pasta and some chopped tomatoes and be all good. Boil water for pasta, get the pesto mix working, chop the tomato, start to seed the tomato - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I’d run my thumb inside the tomato to gut the seeds, and instead of just finding the soft fleshy tomato skin, my thumb found little softish-hardish, spiny things. I can’t even describe the texture w/out it making my stomach turn. I looked down at them and saw little sprouts about a quarter of an inch tall, white with little purple tips had started to grow inside the tomato. I have NEVER, in all my tomato eating life, seen this before. I realize it wasn’t a bug, or a razor blade or anything, but holy hell, talk about freaking a girl out. I still can’t get that sensation out of my head. Little nubbin spikeys are NOT what you want to feel inside a tomato. Had I not immediately thrown them in the trash, I would have taken a picture to show you. Google has nothing to offer except this blurb:
Zesty Seed Sprouts: As the tomato fruit becomes over-ripe, the seeds start to sprout inside the fruit, resulting in a new taste that is “zesty and different.”
Zesty and different my ass. Creepy and in the garbage is more like it.
UPDATE (11/07/05 5:01 PM) - After some further investigation (and various combinations of keywords in google), I have found add’l information.
November 8th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
That’s insane! I’ve never heard anything like that before. I wonder if you put it in some dirt if you would end up with a tomato crop of your very own.
Still very creepy when you’re not expecting it, though.
November 8th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that either. And I do eat a lot of homegrown tomatoes. weird. ick. But at least now I won’t be grossed out if I find them. I’ll plant them! :-)
November 8th, 2005 at 10:45 pm
I think one of the sites mentioned the possibility of letting the sprouts go to town and eventually harvesting the seeds. Can you imagine? Me growing little new monstrosities?
Also - Lisa - Homegrown might actually be better. The site mentioned something about modern technology and them being able to survive longer in ideal growing conditions while the outsides still look perfectly eatable. I mean edible. (”I mean you can eat everything.” Name that movie.)
Regardless, it was one of the strangest things I’ve ever encountered in a vegetable.
November 9th, 2005 at 10:23 am
Thanks for justifying my hatred of any tomatoes that have not been properly rendered into a sauce or salsa. I had texture issues with raw tomatoes before, but this is just creepy!