Science | Science Experiment of the Week 9 | 292 - Good Tomatoes

Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator. Is that a fact, or just an 'old wives tale'?

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This Week's Experiment - #292 Good Tomatoes

These experiments are from Robert Krampf - The Happy Scientist

Hello from South Florida. It has been another great week of shows in Ft. Lauderdale. I also did workshops today to help students and parents prepare for that most dreaded of school activities, the SCIENCE FAIR! One thing that we talked about was doing last minute projects. This week's experiment is one that I used for an example of a quick, simple science project.

As you have noticed in the past, I like projects that use food. Part of this is because I like eating, but I also like food projects because they are a great way to connect science with "the real world."

Have you ever heard someone talk about an "old wives tale"? That phrase is usually used for things that are based on "because that is the way my mother did it" instead of actual facts. That does not mean that they are not valid. It just means that people often don't know the why behind them. This week we will look at some of the science behind tomatoes. You will need:

several tomatoes
a refrigerator

Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator. Is that a fact, or just an "old wives tale"? To find out, you need several tomatoes. Select tomatoes that are the same size and the same level of ripeness. You want them to be as similar as possible. Put half of them on the kitchen table and put the other half in the refrigerator. Be sure to label both groups and let your family know. Otherwise someone may turn your science experiment into a sandwich.

After an hour, remove one of the tomatoes from the refrigerator. Slice it, paying careful attention to the texture and smell. Slice one of the tomatoes from the table and see how it compares. Taste both. Do you notice a difference? Let them sit overnight and test them again. What do you notice?

The tomatoes in the refrigerator very quickly lost their smell and most of their flavor. Over time, the texture of the tomatoe changes. It becomes mealy, losing its firmness. Refrigeration will preserve the tomato for a long time, but they wind up tasting more like plastic than tomato. Now you know what happened to all of those restaurant tomatoes and why fresh ones from a fruit stand taste so wonderful.

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