I&#x27;m not 100% sure on this, but my understanding is that commercial canned tomatoes are more likely to be picked ripe.<p>The reason is that canned tomatoes usually come from the leftovers and blemishes.  When they pick a field of tomatoes (green), quite a few are left behind due to being too small, strangely shaped, etc.  These are usually allowed to ripen.  From what I understand, those are what canned tomatoes most often come from, as they&#x27;re the cheapest.<p>No one cares if a misshaped or bruised tomato gets canned. It will still taste about the same.  Therefore, you can ship the tomatoes closer to ripe, as you&#x27;re not worried about bruising.<p>On a side note, canned tomatoes are actually usually very good if you buy a respectable brand.  The bargain brands vary a lot more.  Honestly, unless it&#x27;s late summer and I can get great tomatoes, I make salsa from canned tomatoes instead of fresh. (Note: this is for things where I&#x27;d be fire-roasting the fresh tomatoes anyway.)