Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

"David in Normandy" wrote in message
. fr...
Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Don't know, but sprinkling sugar on the Tomatoes in the sandwich is superb
;-))

Anyone else keen on that one?

Mike


--

....................................
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
....................................

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you do why
not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his salad.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On Sat, 21 May 2011 15:13:34 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you do why
not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of course;
but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not sugar.
Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote ..

"Bob Hobden"wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants
absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you do why
not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of course;
but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not sugar.
Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.


It's like bought frozen peas, all they taste of is sweet, no pea taste at
all. We leave our peas on the plant until they have proper taste (and lose
some sweetness) and then freeze them ourselves, so much nicer.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote ..

"Bob Hobden"wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a
little sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the
plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you
do why not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his
salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of
course; but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not
sugar. Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.


It's like bought frozen peas, all they taste of is sweet, no pea
taste at all. We leave our peas on the plant until they have proper
taste (and lose some sweetness) and then freeze them ourselves, so
much nicer.

It's funny, but I'm sure when I was a youngster the packet of Birds Eye
actually used to say to put some sugar in the cooking water. Am I imagining
things?


Ian

On Sat, 21 May 2011 17:42:10 +0100, "Ian B"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote ..

"Bob Hobden"wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a
little sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the
plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you
do why not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his
salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of
course; but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not
sugar. Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.


It's like bought frozen peas, all they taste of is sweet, no pea
taste at all. We leave our peas on the plant until they have proper
taste (and lose some sweetness) and then freeze them ourselves, so
much nicer.

It's funny, but I'm sure when I was a youngster the packet of Birds Eye
actually used to say to put some sugar in the cooking water. Am I imagining
things?


Ian

No! My mother always put sugar in rather than a tweak of salt. That
said, I opened a pack of Birds Eye peas the other day (shame but must
admit to it) and was struck by the smell of "fresh podded peas" that I
remember from last year. I put a couple of peas on a plate and left
them to thaw for about 5 minutes before eating "raw" and, must admit
again, they tasted pretty sweet and fresh.

On 21/05/2011 14:12, David in Normandy wrote:
Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.

Not a chance. It might possibly get metabolised in the roots or in
excess it could prevent the roots taking up water from the soil.

You could try surrounding the plant with old round red noses to
encourage fruiting... that has about as much chance or working.

Regards,
Martin Brown

On Sat, 21 May 2011 17:55:11 +0100, Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:

On Sat, 21 May 2011 17:42:10 +0100, "Ian B"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote ..

"Bob Hobden"wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a
little sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the
plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you
do why not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his
salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of
course; but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not
sugar. Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.


It's like bought frozen peas, all they taste of is sweet, no pea
taste at all. We leave our peas on the plant until they have proper
taste (and lose some sweetness) and then freeze them ourselves, so
much nicer.

It's funny, but I'm sure when I was a youngster the packet of Birds Eye
actually used to say to put some sugar in the cooking water. Am I imagining
things?


Ian

No! My mother always put sugar in rather than a tweak of salt. That
said, I opened a pack of Birds Eye peas the other day (shame but must
admit to it) and was struck by the smell of "fresh podded peas" that I
remember from last year. I put a couple of peas on a plate and left
them to thaw for about 5 minutes before eating "raw" and, must admit
again, they tasted pretty sweet and fresh.

The issue isn't freshness: good frozen peas are certainly fresher than
unfrozen ones from a shop. What they lack is the developed flavour.

--
Mike.

On Sat, 21 May 2011 18:34:18 +0100, Mike Lyle
wrote:

On Sat, 21 May 2011 17:55:11 +0100, Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:

On Sat, 21 May 2011 17:42:10 +0100, "Ian B"
wrote:

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote ..

"Bob Hobden"wrote:

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a
little sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the
plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.



The question "why do you want them sweet?" springs to mind. If you
do why not do what an acquaintance does and sprinkle sugar over his
salad.

Good man! Vegetables do need a degree of natural sweetness, of
course; but I want tomatoes to taste most strongly of tomato, not
sugar. Supermarket ones, needless to say, taste of neither.


It's like bought frozen peas, all they taste of is sweet, no pea
taste at all. We leave our peas on the plant until they have proper
taste (and lose some sweetness) and then freeze them ourselves, so
much nicer.

It's funny, but I'm sure when I was a youngster the packet of Birds Eye
actually used to say to put some sugar in the cooking water. Am I imagining
things?


Ian

No! My mother always put sugar in rather than a tweak of salt. That
said, I opened a pack of Birds Eye peas the other day (shame but must
admit to it) and was struck by the smell of "fresh podded peas" that I
remember from last year. I put a couple of peas on a plate and left
them to thaw for about 5 minutes before eating "raw" and, must admit
again, they tasted pretty sweet and fresh.

The issue isn't freshness: good frozen peas are certainly fresher than
unfrozen ones from a shop. What they lack is the developed flavour.

You must forgive me - this is the first year for upwards of 30 where I
have to taste anything other than home grown and am trying to
convince myself that Anne Wareham may have a point.

On May 21, 2:12*pm, David in Normandy
wrote:
Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.

--
David in Normandy. *
* *To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
* *subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
* *by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Ah cobblers. The sugar would be speedily broken down and oxidised by
soil bacteria.
Sugars in any fruit are manufactured in the leaves of the plant by
photosynthesis. If you want your tomatoes to be as sweet as possible,
leave them on the plant as long as possible. They will then ned to be
eaten right away.

Supermarket tomatoes are picked before they are fully ripe so they
will keep.
They may get a bit redder in storage but they will not get any sweeter
away from their source of sugar (the plant).
Sometimes they are "ripened" artificially with ethylene gas but they
don't become any sweeter.
(Hence the old banana trick BTW)

Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:
No! My mother always put sugar in rather than a tweak of salt. That
said, I opened a pack of Birds Eye peas the other day (shame but must
admit to it) and was struck by the smell of "fresh podded peas" that I
remember from last year. I put a couple of peas on a plate and left
them to thaw for about 5 minutes before eating "raw" and, must admit
again, they tasted pretty sweet and fresh.

My boys have taught me to eat frozen peas straight from the packet.

Martin Brown wrote:
Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.
Not a chance. It might possibly get metabolised in the roots or in
excess it could prevent the roots taking up water from the soil.

I would think mostly it would just encourage ants.

On 21/05/2011 20:44, harry wrote:
On May 21, 2:12 pm, David in
wrote:
Someone said that tomatoes can be made sweeter by sprinkling a little
sugar around the plants. Would this really work? Would the plants absorb
the sugar and store it in the tomatoes? I'm somewhat dubious.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Ah cobblers. The sugar would be speedily broken down and oxidised by
soil bacteria.
Sugars in any fruit are manufactured in the leaves of the plant by
photosynthesis. If you want your tomatoes to be as sweet as possible,
leave them on the plant as long as possible. They will then ned to be
eaten right away.

Supermarket tomatoes are picked before they are fully ripe so they
will keep.
They may get a bit redder in storage but they will not get any sweeter
away from their source of sugar (the plant).
Sometimes they are "ripened" artificially with ethylene gas but they
don't become any sweeter.
(Hence the old banana trick BTW)

That is pretty much what I thought. I was sceptical of the sugar claim
but thought I'd ask here if anyone else had heard of it and had any
evidence supporting it.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.