Why You Should Never Refrigerate Tomatoes

Dr. Mercola

There’s not much in the produce world that can compare to the flavor of a fresh-picked tomato. But this flavor – that to some portrays the very essence of summer – is extremely vulnerable.

If you purchased your tomatoes at a grocery store, they probably weren’t ripe to begin with (they’re typically picked a few days before they’re fully ripened to make them easier to ship). If you put an unripe tomato in your fridge, the ripening process will stop, so you’ll certainly be left with a tasteless tomato.

But even if your tomatoes were homegrown or picked up from a local farmer’s market (arguably the best sources of truly flavorful tomatoes), their flavor will quickly disappear if you put them in the refrigerator, due to a change in chemical structure.

Volatiles: The Secret Behind Tomato Flavor

The flavor of a tomato is a result of an interaction between sugars, acids, and multiple volatile compounds. Volatiles are responsible for making a tomato taste like a tomato, and while there are several hundred of them in this fruit, only 15-20 actually impact our perception of its flavor.1 As explained by the University of Florida:2

“This is because most of these compounds fall below the odor threshold. This threshold is determined by both the concentration of the substance and our ability to detect it. Thus, a compound that is present in quite high levels that we detect poorly will not register. Conversely, a substance to which we are quite sensitive will be perceived in very low amounts.”

For example, following is a list from the University of Florida of some of the major volatiles in tomatoes, along with their concentration and odor characteristics.3

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