Tomato Deception. Yes, seriously.

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

So this weekend, with fall fast approaching in the north, I decided to go out for some farm-fresh tomatoes so I can cook them into a heavenly sauce and freeze fresh packets of summer for a long winter. I didn’t do this for a couple of years and I miss it.

I’ve noticed with our heavy rains this year, the tomatoes I’ve bought so far haven’t been the greatest. Everywhere I went, they are bruised, look beat up and just not appetizing. And the ones I ate? They were tough, and flavorless.  So I drove around to a few new places.   One farm that I entered had nice looking tomatoes for sale right out front in wooden baskets.  I figured I could work with those.   I went in to inquire about the cost of a half-a-bushel.  I was told that those wouldn’t be sold by the bushel, but they had “slicer” tomatoes in back that I could buy in bulk.

“Slicer?”  I thought that didn’t sound right.  Who grows “slicer” tomatoes?  I hadn’t heard of that before.

I went back and looked at the ones they wouldn’t sell me and I noticed the boxes they were sitting in were professionally printed boxes that had the correct name for each type they contained. That seemed odd.  I then went back inside and when I questioned the girl if they were grown on their farm, she told me no, they bought these tomatoes.

A FARM bought their tomatoes.

Hello!  I feel like I am living in an alternate reality sometimes. How does that make sense???

I was shocked.  I’m in farm fields for miles and miles and I want to buy tomatoes and they aren’t growing them. They are buying them!!  And its profitable for them to sell them?   Well, of course, it is!  They are selling them as if they were homegrown when they aren’t. I can guarantee dozens and dozens of unsuspecting customers paid for “farm” grown tomatoes and got greenhouse.

Just wow.

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

Next time you think you are getting farm-fresh — you might want to ask first where it was grown. I certainly will going forward!