The Glories of Summer Tomatoes: Part II
What magical recipe was used by Mother Nature to create the aromatic bouquet and delicious flavor of a home grown or fresh farm ripe tomato? In large measure, studies have shown that tasters respond to the sugars (fructose and glucose) and acids (citric, tartaric) that are present in all tomatoes. But that is not all. While the predominant organic biomolecule is a 6 carbon molecule (C6), tasters did not report C6 as adding to the flavor. Instead, a molecule known as geranial or citral with 10 carbonds was identified as the molecule whose presence was most significantly correlated with a great taste. This molecule will most often be found in tomatoes that have been home grown or produced by a local farmer. Citral is also present in lemon grass, lemon verbena, and oranges. It is also a breakdown molecule from the lycopene discussed in the previous post.
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| citral skeleton structure |
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| citral ball and stick structure |
By Arrowsmaster - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32994499
By Jynto (talk) - This image was created with Discovery Studio Visualizer., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20151599
When Rich and I were in Japan, we were served tiny glasses of a clear drink as a prelude to our dinner. Game to try anything in the country where every dish was delicious and we often had no idea what we were eating or drinking, so, we obligingly held up our shot glasses, toasted to our hosts, and down the hatch. We were both shocked. This clear liquid tasted like the essence of fresh tomatoes - but it was not read, but a clear solution. I later learned that this delicious non-alcoholic aperitif was prepared by simply pulverizing a fresh tomato and filtering the juices to remove pulp and cell debris, which will retain the red lycopene and other colored molecules that are all not water soluble. Sadly, the citral mentioned above is not water soluble and so will not be present.
You can make this yourself by taking following the recipe below from https://gfreefoodie.com/tomato-water/
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