Should you refrigerate tomatoes?
Should you refrigerate tomatoes? We’re glad you asked. Short answer; ‘not really’. Long answer; ‘it’s best to avoid if you can, but sometimes it can be necessary.’ Tomatoes keep ripening once picked, but not in the fridge, so under-ripe ones are defo best stored at room temperature. Fully ripe fruits might spoil if you can’t use them fast enough so in this instance, your best bet is to refrigerate them until needed. But prolonged refrigeration dulls their flavour and munts their texture, making them mushy-mealy and tasteless. Scientists have actually conducted experiments around the way the volatile compounds in tomatoes decline with fridge storage, particularly after 3 days, finding that temperatures of 12˚C and cooler stop them producing substances that contribute to flavour and aroma. Bringing your (minimally) refrigerated tomatoes to room temperature before eating can go a way to restoring some of those compounds, but after the 3 day mark, that lovely tomato-y flavour has pretty much walked off the job. (FYI our tongues register sweet flavours better at room temperature so eating tomatoes, or most other fruits, chilled from the fridge isn’t the best). Our preference? Storing tomatoes in a bowl on the bench or somewhere else in the kitchen that’s not too hot and away from direct sunlight (they might over-ripen). But before we even get to the storage stage, we make sure we start with great tomatoes; ones that are fragrant, feel heavy for their size, have lovely, glossy skin, and are sweet and juicy inside. Out of their season, we don’t even bother. Who needs that kind of disappointment in their lives?
