Does soil affect flavour?

[marshlander]

The flavour of tomatoes came up on the thread about low light levels and it got me wondering; does the soil, amount of light and water or other factors affect the way things taste? I know some people prefer sweeter toms and others acid but I've sometimes grown varieties reccommended and found them bland.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Certainly the amount of water does - melons & tomatoes both benefit in terms of flavour if water is restricted as they begin to ripen. As far as light is concerned, the amount of sugar that a plant can produce depends on the amount of light it receives, but there is an upper limit beyond which higher intensity of light makes no difference. Wine makers swear that the mineral content of soil determines the flavours of wine and since many types of wine can be made from a very few varieties of grape there may well be something in it.

[Jandra]

I've grown the same type of potato (Raja) on clay soil and sandy soil. They definitely turn out different. So yes, i.m.o. soil can make a difference.

[Odsox]

Most definitely.
There is an earlier thread on here somewhere about my growing one variety of tomato (Tigerella I think) two different ways, some in the greenhouse border grown organically and some hydroponically, totally inorganically.
Much to my surprise the hydroponic ones were far and away the best for flavour.

Logically then, the ones in soil must have been deficient in some trace element(s) that was supplied in the hydroponic nutrient, which in turn means that unless everyone's soil is perfectly balanced, everyone will have slightly different flavoured fruit.
Probably

[MKG]

Damn right it does! I put some in a stew just the other day, and it tasted really earthy.

Mike

[oldjerry]

Classic!!!!!

[harðfiskur]

definitely...
for example here is a tomato which is grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Italy so in a lava stone rich environment and it has a well defined taste and organoleptic features.
http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.ves ... dotti=2983

[Cyril22]

Soil does seem to make a difference in the taste of tomatoes, especially. Where I live now, almost all tomatoes come out tasting sweet. In the deep South where my sister gardens, the same varieties have that acid bite that, to me, defines any good tomato. Even when tomatoes are supposed to be sweet, I like that little bit of acid taste. I've lived the traveling life; have grown gardens all over the US and overseas. The soil does seem to make a difference.

European strawberries, carrots, potatoes and parsley just cannot be beat for flavor. The first time I pulled up a carrot from my garden in France, it smelled so good! I wiped the dirt off with my shirt, bit into it, and WOW, what a taste explosion.

[contadina]

It's a mixture of temperature, sun, rain, and soil. Add more organic matter to the soil to increase flavour, but that alone won't make for flavoursome toms. I think I read somewhere that the ideal temperatures to grow tomatoes was 80s during the day and 50s or 60s during the night and that they prefer 8-hours sunlight per day. Once the fruit has set it's a good idea to cut back on watering to get more flavorful tomatoes, but not so much that plants become stressed.

[Millymollymandy]

Not just soil as they can vary in taste in the same soil from one year to the next.