This afternoon I went food shopping because I had a hankering for a simple lettuce and tomato salad.
I washed and prepared the lettuce. Washed the tomato. Cut the tomato. Placed some of the tomato on the lettuce. Then noticed something odd.
2018 November 15 Afternoon
On closer look, it became clear that several tomato seeds were sprouting inside the tomato.
2018 November 15 Afternoon
Apparently, I was under the mistaken notion that tomato seeds cannot sprout inside the fruit.
2018 November 16 Morning
2018 November 16 Morning
College Of Agriculture, Health And Natural Resources Extension
Vivipary happens when the hormone controlling the seed dormancy is exhausted or runs out, letting the seed grow in the moist environment inside the fruit.
B. Rosie Lerner, Purdue Extension Consumer Horticulturist
In tomatoes, cool temperatures coupled with low light conditions (such as in refrigeration) is thought to inhibit that particular PGR (plant-growth regulators), thus allowing the seeds to germinate inside the moist, warm environment of the fruit, when brought back to room temperature.
The sprouts of tomato seeds are toxic, so you should not eat the fruit.
Since I had tossed some of the cut tomato into my salad I removed it and rewashed the lettuce.
What should I do with the rest of the tomatoes that I purchased?
Outrageously Fresh? Sure they could be. Perhaps what could have happened–the tomatoes
were chilled between harvest and the shelf in the grocery store.
If I don’t slice the tomatoes could the seeds sprout and emerge through the skin? That would be very cool.
What should I do with the sprouting seeds? Plant them?
No guarantee what I might get if any of the seedlings survive.