If you’re one of those people who puts tomatoes in the fridge, you are going to want to stop. Now.

Sure, chilling a tomato will keep it looking fresh for a longer period of time than if you left it on the counter, but it will also drain all that earthy, slightly grassy, distinctive tomato taste right out of the fruit. (And, yes, tomato is a fruit.)

Scientists and foodies have known for some time that cooling tomatoes is detrimental to their flavor, but they were not exactly sure why — until now.

According to new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, when a tomato’s environment drops below 68 degrees, the genes responsible for making it taste like a tomato get turned off.

“Basically, the tomato gets cold and tells itself to stop making these aroma compounds,” said Denise Tieman, a research associate professor at the Plant Innovation Center at the University of Florida.

“The change is irreversible,” she added.

Tieman has been studying the science of tomato flavor for at least a decade. Previously she discovered that tomatoes taste the way they do because of a combination of sugars, acids and a collection of chemicals that scientists call volatile compounds or aroma compounds.

“Aroma compounds are what you smell, and they make up the wonderful part of the flavor,” Tieman said. “The sugars and acids are what you taste on the tongue, but there would be no excitement to the flavor without the aroma compounds.”

In previous work, the authors had shown that a refrigerated tomato has the same amount of sugars and acids as a freshly picked tomato, but significantly less aroma compounds.