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One Scientist's Quest: Improving The Flavor Of Commercial Tomatoes

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Professor Harry Klee. (Tyler Jones/University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)
Professor Harry Klee. (Tyler Jones/University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)

Grocery store tomatoes are bred for yield and firmness, not for flavor.

And even though taste is relative, researchers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, believe they can come up with varieties of delicious tomatoes that will also appeal to commercial growers.

"A large part of the problem here with the American diet is we've produced a whole lot of foods that just have lost their flavor, and people aren't that interested in eating them," molecular biologist and horticulturalist Harry Klee, who's leading the tomato research, told Here & Now.

Guest

  • Harry Klee, professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

This segment aired on August 6, 2013.

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