Forum: cooking.stackexchange.com
Tags: <tomatoes>
Title: How to get best taste out of tomatoes?
Question: I'm making an Indian dish, for this I need tomatoes, no matter what recipe I follow I'm not getting the taste of the restaurant.  Is this because I'm not preparing tomato properly or is it because I'm not choosing good tomatoes? How can I identify good tomatoes??

Answers:
sents: text: Most tomatoes from the produce aisle will be relatively flavourless— this is because they are frequently picked when they are unripe so that they can ripen en route to the store and extend their shelf life as a result.
text: Try using canned tomatoes instead, which are picked at the height of their ripeness and preserved right away.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/79018/Dugan 
score: 35
sents: text: Are you sure the taste difference is only based on the tomatoes?
text: I think Indian cuisine has a lot more aspects/ingredients.
text: As for the tomatoflavor, try adding some tomatopaste.
text: It is usually fried like onion/garlic for a short while, before adding the bulk liquid (like stock).
text: This source says it "needs a few minutes on medium heat to darken in color and release its flavor" Edit: changed 'baked' to 'fried' for clarification
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/79174/user2966394
score: 8
sents: text: Variety makes a huge difference as well.
text: We make a variant of Caprese salad frequently, which is something that depends heavily on the quality of the tomatoes, and we basically have two choices when making it for optimal flavor: Use tomatoes
text: we grow ourselves
text: (we live in the northern US, so that's possible for about 2 months out of the year)
text: Use Campari tomatoes, which we are able to get hydroponically grown relatively nearby and packed ripe.
text: Camparis are a highly flavorful variety, one of the most flavorful that are easy to obtain (at least in our area), and because we're able to find a source that gives us fully ripe tomatoes consistently, they turn out very well.
text: We've tried with quite a few other varieties and sources, and even in season haven't gotten results near what we can get out of season with hydroponic Camparis.
text: You may want to find out what varieties of tomatoes are commonly used in the dishes you prepare - depending on what kind of flavor you're going for, plum, campari, or roma may be a good choice, for example.
text: This site recommends Plum tomatoes for sauces, for example.
text: I also see the desi tamatar , which seems to be a common Indian variety of tomato, which seems very similar to the Campari, both in appearance and flavor; I've seen some recipes that consider the two identical, though I suspect that's not truly the case (as the Campari is a recent hybrid developed in Europe).
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/23682/Joe M
score: 4
sents: text: It'd be wonderful if we could always purchase delicious, fresh tomatoes; bursting with intense, spectacular tomato flavor!
text: Alas, such is not the reality for most cooks, most times of the year.
text: The solution is to use fresh tomatoes as much as possible when they are available, but supplement them with one or more types of canned tomato products.
text: From canned whole tomatoes; through the many variations of diced, crushed, pureed, etc.; to the even more varietal tomato pastes and sauces; no pantry is complete without one or more types of canned tomatoes.
text: Experiment with whatever selection of tomato products are typically available where you live.
text: Through trial, error, and patience; you'll eventually achieve the taste you're longing for!
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41245/ElmerCat
score: 3
sents: text: I use store bought "fresh" tomatoes on the vine for a lot tomato based dishes I make (such as curries).
text: I've found one way to bring out the flavour
text: is to
text: slow cook them for 6-8 hours on low , with the last few hours lidless to allow some water to evaporate off.
text: You can then mash or blend the mix to whatever consistency required.
text: You can also do this in a saucepan if you're careful not to burn the tomatoes.
text: Obviously this is time consuming but it can be done in advance and in bulk then frozen for future use
text: but it does really help bring out more flavour.
text: If the recipe calls for it, adding browned onions into the mix can create a sweeter flavour and as others have mentioned concentrated tomato puree and/or roasted garlic puree can enhance the flavour.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/76290/ResoundingBoom
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
Try experimenting with different varieties, especially on the vine and in season, but supermarket tomatoes are often picked unripe and ripen in transit, making them less flavourful. In contrast, canned tomato products are picked and processed at peak ripeness and may be a better option alone or in combination with fresh tomatoes.
Use fresh tomatoes only when available locally, supermarket tomatoes are often tasteless. Canned tomatoes are a good substitute outside the tomato season, as is tomato paste.