Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, the five senses which allow us to see, listen, smell, taste and have tactile sensation. The five senses interact on a daily basis with our consumption decisions, or are we going to think that our food choices and decisions only pay attention to our taste buds? What influence do our senses have on when we choose to eat cherry tomatoes, our flagship product?

In previous issues, we spoken about the flavour of cherry tomatoes, what makes the difference with this small and attention grabbing tomato, which arrived at our farms years ago and to our table, and did so to stay. It’s at home as a healthy snack between meals for European consumers, and is the favourite companion when looking to adding colour and flavour to salads, stews and sandwiches of all kinds.

The reason for its success is its sweet and less acidic taste when compared to its closest relatives, as well as the explosion released when it hits your palate. However, we don’t just want to talk about taste, but also about how the flavour is experienced by our five senses.

Sight is clearly plays the lead role when consumers find this attention grabbing «little cherry». For red tomato cherries, their colour is a direct result of the presence of lycopene when they break down, pigment that also slows down oxidation of the  cells due to being antioxidants.

In orange grape tomatoes, high concentrations of beta-carotene give them an orange colour, with potassium also playing a key role, since a lack of this mineral can lead to poor colouration and less lycopene synthesis.

How they smell is one of the things that makes a difference with our tomatoes. Soft, fruity and sweet, this plays a key role in the «vine» display version of our cherry tomatoes,  where the smell can even play the most important role, providing the tomato with freshness and authenticity.

First we touch them and then we eat them, something normal as consumers where touch follows sight. We touch cherry tomatoes’ skin, smooth, soft and firm.  Firmness for cherry tomatoes is one of the characteristics our quality standards focus on, and we start doing this right from the variety study at our trial farms to the search for firmness detection processes in the production chain in order to ensure that the cherry tomatoes are in perfect condition when they reach their destination.

However, what do our cherry tomato varieties sound like? Cherry tomatoes crunch in our mouths and we hear them burst with flavour. A provocative sound due to the power of our jaw breaking their thin but smooth skin, making them burst with juiciness.

Taste brings our cherry tomato consumer’s experience of cycle of the five senses to a close, and it is the sense that plays the decisive role in determining whether we retain customers or not, since once they taste the flavour there’s no going anywhere else. But, how is the cherry tomato flavour managed? The sweet taste of the various varieties of cherry tomatoes is directly related to the relative concentration of sugar and acids in the fruit, mainly fructose and citric acid.

The constant search for cherry tomato flavour through the five senses as a consumption experience means we’re the connection point between the seed production companies, where the research starts, and the end destination for the product. At our trial farms the field behaviour study phase is starting for the various varieties of cherry tomatoes, to assess their response using agronomic management where process innovation is the bottom line.

As a cherry tomato production company, we’re aware that consumer preferences are highly variable and unpredictable. That’s why we offer twenty varieties of cherry tomatoes on the market to satisfy and cover even the most demanding tastes, since, despite how different they are from each other, the common denominator is that Grupo La Caña is able to guarantee the best flavour.

VARIETIES WITH THE BEST TASTE

Vine tomatoes: Ottymo, Korino, Genio

Vine tomatoes: Lupita, Karelia

Red grape tomatoes: Angelle, Santawest, Seychelle, Ferdinand, Sukita, Bosco

Tiger cherry tomatoes: Morenito

Yellow cherry tomatoes: Summer sun, Flamantino

Orange grape tomatoes: Bambello, Bamano