Don't keep your tomatoes in the fridge if you want to keep their flavour, according to US scientists.
Temperatures below 12C has been proven to hamper enzymes that help develop the taste.
A University of Florida team studied the changes of more than 25,000 genes in two tomato varieties. They looked at these genes before and during chilling, and after returning the tomatoes to room temperature.
The study authors found that the tomatoes were extremely sensitive to low temperatures as it reduced the activity of hundreds of genes.
"Remove the violins and the woodwinds, you still have the noise but it's not the same. Add back the violins and it still isn't right," Harry Klee, lead author of the study,said to the New York Times.
"You need that orchestra of 30 or more chemicals in the right balance to give you a good tomato."
Klee recommends purchasing fresh tomatoes whenever possible, storing them at room temperature and eating them within a week of bringing them home from the store.
*The work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
