Imagine biting into a tomato that smells like freshly buttered popcorn.
Research published in the journal KeAi showed the world’s first tomato plants with a popcorn-like aroma made using gene-editing technology. The goal is part of a much bigger effort to solve one of the biggest problems in modern agriculture: why tomatoes have lost so much of their flavour.
Why tomatoes don’t taste like they used to
If you’ve ever eaten a tomato straight from a garden, you probably know the difference immediately.
Homegrown tomatoes are often sweet, fragrant, and intensely flavourful. Supermarket tomatoes, by comparison, can sometimes taste bland.
Once removed from the vine, the fruit begins to undergo metabolic changes that slowly reduce its aroma and flavour. Long transport times and storage conditions make this even worse. Over decades, breeding tomatoes for durability, size, and shelf life has also unintentionally reduced many of the compounds responsible for flavour.
Scientists around the world are now trying to bring that flavour back.
The science behind the popcorn smell
In the new study, researchers used the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9 to modify two specific genes in tomato plants.
These genes normally control how the plant processes certain chemical compounds.
By switching them off, the researchers triggered the buildup of a molecule called 2-AP.
This compound is famous in the food world. It’s responsible for the distinctive smell of:
- Buttered popcorn
- Fragrant rice varieties like basmati and jasmine
- Freshly baked bread
When the edited tomatoes started producing higher levels of this compound, the plants developed a distinct popcorn-like aroma.
Improving flavour without hurting the plant
One of the most important findings from the research is that the genetic change didn’t appear to harm the plant’s performance, so scientists managed to increase the tomato’s aroma without reducing yield or nutritional value.
The tomatoes used in the experiment were a research variety called Alisa Craig, commonly used in plant science studies.
The next step will be introducing the aroma trait into commercial tomato varieties that are grown at scale.
If successful, future supermarket tomatoes could have far richer aromas and more complex flavour, something that many people feel has been missing from modern produce.
This research is part of a growing trend in agriculture: using gene editing not just to make crops tougher or higher yielding, but to improve the eating experience itself.
Instead of choosing between flavour and productivity, scientists are increasingly finding ways to achieve both.
And if that future includes tomatoes that smell like buttered popcorn, it might make the produce aisle a lot more interesting.
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Episode Transcript
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Doctor Michelde can say, good morning, Good morning, Right as always,
You've found a fascinating science study for us to talk
about this week, one that I'm not sure I'm on
board with.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh, I'm totally on board with this.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I have just sort of picked the last of my
tomato crop, and my goodness, it's been a good summer.
I only normally get one one crop of something that
is absolutely fantastic. Give me some. I'm such a bad gardener,
and my tomatoes have been beautiful, and I literally take
them off the line and start aiding them in the garden.
They taste so good that you're telling me that you
would prefer a tomato that smells like buttered popcorn.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm not saying I prefer it, but I am also
having just picked my last tomato and it's been such
a good crup and then having to go back to
supermarket tomatoes where they just taste of water.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I've gone, oh, there's gotta be a better way.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So scientists have created tomatoes that smell like buttered popcorn.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Is the study they smell like it.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, okay, so not taste like, but smell like it.
So confusing, Well, it's confusing, but it's the same smell
that we have in fragrant rice varieties like basmati and jasmine,
and in freshly baked bread. It's that it's that buttery
popcorn smell that you don't realize you're smelling it, but
go to some freshly baked bread and smell it and
it's that same scent. And so they've basically, look, if
(01:33):
you're not into genetically modified foods, you're not gonna like this.
But they've used crispur, which is how we can genetically
modify some food, and they've basically taken a molecule called
two AP and they've put it into a tomato and
it has made the tomatoes smell like buttered popcorn. And
this has allowed the popcorns to produce higher levels of
(01:54):
this two AP compound. And what it has done is
it's improved the flavor of the tomato without at all
harming the plant. So often when you do a genetic
modification to a plant, something suffers, but they've been able
to do this where everything the plant has almost stayed
the same other than its smell and its fragrance and
therefore its taste. So the crup yield is the same,
(02:16):
the size of the tomatoes the same. There basically haven't
been any negative consequences to this gene, which is great
because now it means that potentially if we do this,
and we know that New Zealand is very strict on GM,
so maybe this is somewhere else. But supermarket tomatoes, which
I think we all agree are a little bit flat
sometimes in their taste, would now have much richer aromas
(02:40):
and far more complex flavor and maybe taste like our
summer ones that we grow in our gardens.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So the smell is different, it will still taste like
a tomato, but that there will be a stronger taste
and more rich and complex ting, right, Okay, because you
I mean, you know what a supermarket tomato it tastes
like it? Yeah, yeah, it just tastes like water.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's just so it's basically going to help those complex
flavors form in the plant. But also so because smell
is such a.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Big part of how we taste, you don't think it
might be a bit disappointing when you smell and go, oh,
this smells like fresh bread and popcorn. Then you go, oh,
it's tomato.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Maybe look the taste is. They have official tastes a
part of the scientific study.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's amazing what people are working on, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, and I go a little to improve our lives.
I've never thought, oh, buzzmutty race smells like fresh pop No.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
But the minute you see it, I went, yeh, absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
And you're not weird buy it right?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
No, so who knows?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So Yeah, if you want your tomatoes to smell like
buttered popcorn, there's a genetic changer to ap molecule and
it might make up tomatoes and not a market. It
must something to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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