The Question of Tomato Sprouts

So I've had tomato seeds sprout inside the tomato three times now. The first time it happened was a few years ago and I freaked out and threw it away. In the past year or so, however, I've become rather interested in sprouts and wanted to try sprouting my own seeds to increase nutritional value.
So, when another tomato sprouted again recently, I decided to be brave and try eating it. The rest of the tomato seemed perfectly normal and it tasted wonderful. I added it to the sandwich in this other post.

It happened a third time on the 8th of August and I used part of it in a guacamole recipe and the rest I made into an open-face sandwich.

Organic Multigrain bread, fresh guacamole, tomato, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mmmm . . .

Still, I kept meaning to do a little research on this phenomenon and never got around to it till today (09-03-12). There are a lot of different opinions. Some people say they would never eat a tomato like this. Others say they have and do and that they are just fine and even tasty. Some people are worried this is a sign of genetic modification, others disagree and think it's a result of being kept cool for long periods in order to enable shipping longer distances. I really don't know what the real cause is.

I must confess, I rather wish I could be sure they are safe to eat. If it does turn out to be a result of GM, I will be rather disappointed.

I had learned years ago that tomatoes should not be stored in the fridge because it ruins their flavor. Apparently Italians never chill theirs but always keep them at room temperature. I figured Italians ought to know so I haven't refrigerated mine for years. 

When this kept happening I just figured that it got warm enough as they sat in the fruit bowl on my counter that the little seeds woke up. 

Hopefully someday I can shed some light on this little mystery.

Update: 07-11-15

We recently bought some tomatoes from Costco. They are non-gmo certified Houweling's Locally grown kind and nearly all of them ended up with sprouts inside, Today I have two left and I can see that they have little bumps forming on the skin where the sprouts are trying to break through.

This brought the question back to my mind again, about whether or not it is a sign of Genetic Modification, so I looked the brand up online to be sure they really are non-gmo. 

Then I did a little more research and found this article.  Which claims the phenomenon to be normal. Although I found another one that said eating tomato sprouts can cause gastric upset. I guess because tomatoes belong to the nightshade family their sprouts are a bit iffy? Anyway, My main thought now is . . . 'I wish I had somewhere to plant all these sprouts. Wouldn't that be awesome?'

What I Ate: 03-23-12

Today I'm going to be playing "Catch Up" and try to whittle down the list of all the things I've taken photos of in the past while (*Cough-six months-cough*) that I intended to post but never did.
Most of these things are food photos that I took when I was particularly excited about a new recipe or snack that I'd concocted.
On Kaboodle.com (an online wishlist/shopping community) many of the members will write a "What I Wore" post on their blogazine so that they can share of some their creative outfits or newly purchased attire. I've decided will all the back-dated photos of food I have, that it would make sense to do that same thing only with what I ate instead. So I'm starting with the oldest one's first and will work my way forward to today. (We'll see if it still is today by the time I get to it. :}  )

This first one is simple enough . . .

Nachos:

I don't buy chips much anymore, (mainly because of the whole GMO thing) but someone gave me some of these blue corn chips after a party and I knew my hubby would be happy to have some again for a change, so I took them home.
I figured that for me a least, any excuse to make homemade guacamole was a good excuse..

When I make guacamole I usually don't follow a recipe anymore, I just puree the avocado in my little hand blender along with some fresh minced garlic, a tomato and some lime (or lemon) juice and salt. I just sort of eyeball it.
I'll add other things too, if I feel like it or have them on hand. In fact, last December when I went to Arizona to spend Christmas with my sister she and I concocted our own guacamole/hummus. It was really good and that was the first time I discovered what tahini is. (in case you don't know it's toasted sesame seed paste) So after that I went out and purchased some organic tahini from the health food section of Smith's Marketplace and started making my own hummus at home a lot too. In fact, six months later, I am completely out of tahini and will need to go purchase some more soon because I love me my hummus.

For those who are wondering, I usually buy all my beans dry now and soak/cook them up in the crock using this method I found on pinterest a few months ago. Then I freeze them in jars like this until I need some beans and then I'll just stick a jar or two in the fridge the night before.  I feel a lot better not buying the canned beans since almost everything canned has (toxic) soy in it now.

Anyway, so I've made hummus with garbanzo beans a lot but the last time I made hummus I actually tried using zucchini like this recipe I found on pinterest here. It was really good and I didn't even notice a difference in flavor. I think the only downfall is that with bean hummus I know I'm getting some protein, but not so much with that zucchini kind. Still, if you can't eat beans (or gluten) the zucchini kind is a great alternative.