Living · 6 pages · 12 min
Why a tomato splits after rain
The skin cannot stretch as fast as the inside swells when water rushes in.
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From the opening
A tomato splits after rain because the fruit takes up water faster than its skin can stretch. The pulp swells, the skin reaches its limit and cracks, often in rings around the stem or in lines down the side, and the rain changed the water supply rather than striking the fruit like a hammer. The opening covers a dry spell then a sudden gulp, skin that cannot match the swell, and ripe fruit cracks before green fruit.
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Inside
- A dry spell then a sudden gulp
- Skin that cannot match the swell
- Ripe fruit cracks before green fruit
- Old corky scars are a different flaw
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Fruit cracking from rapid water uptake
- Skin elasticity and ripening in tomatoes