Why You Should Stop Seeding Tomatoes

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She now thinks a lot about design, kids, and designy kids' things. She lives with her two daughters and their father in St. Paul, MN.
updated May 13, 2022
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If you’ve been seeding your tomatoes before using them in your cooking, we have news for you: maybe you should stop. Or so says America’s Test Kitchen host Chris Kimball in his new book on the science of cooking. So what’s wrong with seeding tomatoes? Find out below:

According to Kimball as recently told to NPR’s The Salt:

It turns out the seed in [the tomato] jelly … has three times more flavor compounds called glutamates than the flesh, so when you seed the tomato… you’re actually throwing out most of the flavor.

So while you might get a smoother soup (that much is true), it won’t be as tasty! Glutamate proteins, if you remember, are what give tomatoes their umami taste and feel. As the Umami Information Center writes regarding tomatoes:

Of the many plant foods that provide umami in western tradition, the tomato is foremost. Its attractive, full, rounded ‘meaty’ flavour comes from its heavy load of glutamates, and this flavour is reinforced by its unique crimson colour, the colour of blood which is the very essence of animal life.

Interesting! Have you noticed a difference in flavor in seeded vs. unseeded tomatoes?

For more on the science of cooking (and other myths debunked) check out The Salt’s article below, and The Science of Good Cooking ($24.40).

Read More: Making ‘The Science of Good Cooking’ Look Easy | The Salt

Related: Too Many Tomatoes? Make Tomato Paste

(Image: Rcosmin/Shutterstock)

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Tomatoes
Vegetables
Ingredient