Green Tomatoes Aren't Always Just Unripe Versions Of Red Tomatoes

You may have heard of fried green tomatoes, the Southern dish that involves deep-frying our favorite fruit of the vine. And you may have assumed these little guys are meant to be green, just as red tomatoes are meant to be red. However, this isn’t quite true. A little secret: 
Some green tomatoes are meant to stay green forever. Others are unripe versions of red tomatoes that will eventually turn red. And they taste VERY different from one another.
Yup, red tomato varieties all go through a green phase before they’ve fully ripened. In this phase, the tomatoes are hard and firm, and chlorophyll levels give them a green color, according to Michael Washburn, garden manager at the magical Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. You can pick an unripe red tomato and eat it while it’s still green for a zingy, tart taste. 
Then there are types of tomatoes that are bred to stay green even when ripe, just as yellow or purple tomatoes keep their colors into maturity. Green zebra and Aunt Ruby’s German green are some famous kinds of green-when-ripe tomatoes. Some of them may be considered heirloom tomatoes, which is really just a fancy term for tomatoes whose seeds have a long, storied past. 
Wait, why would a farmer pick and sell an unripe tomato?
Some people prefer the tart taste and firm texture of unripe red tomatoes (which are green). But there are also scientific factors at play: Tomatoes gener...

Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - November 3, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news