The Great Debate, Is the Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

Is there anything that reminds us more of summer than a vine-ripened tomato picked fresh from the garden. But is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable ? Although tomatoes are now available year-round, the truly wonderful qualities of tomatoes are best from our garden, when they are in season from July through September. They can be red, yellow, orange, green, purple, or brown in color. Although tomatoes are fruits in the botanical sense, they don't have the dessert quality sweetness of other fruits. Instead they have a subtle sweetness that is complemented by a slightly bitter and acidic taste. Cooking tempers the acid qualities in tomatoes and brings out their rich sweetness.

The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits and so are many kinds of nuts. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example.’

As far as cooking is concerned, somethings which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savory rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.

Enjoy the ‘tomato’ as flavorful healthy fruit snack simply by slicing this vine-ripen fruit with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, topping with fresh basil and fresh ground black pepper. Cooking brings out the sweetness of a tomato. A taste example is my sauteed Chicken and Tomato Recipe.

In this election year we’ll be hearing many debates, but I’m sure all candidates would agree that a tomato is a fruit. Maybe the debate should be about what type of tomatoes do you prefer and why?

Summer is right around the corner, thank goodness!

Enjoy,

George

Comments

[David Groves]

Down here in the South "NC", we enjoy
"Wish Sandwiches", a slice of home grown
tomato on white bread with mayonnaise and
we wish we could have some meat. Now with
tomatoes at $2.99 per pound we have meat
sandwiches and wish we could have tomatoes.
Back yard gardens are the way to go.

[David Groves]

Down here in the South "NC", we enjoy
"Wish Sandwiches", a slice of home grown
tomato on white bread with mayonnaise and
we wish we could have some meat. Now with
tomatoes at $2.99 per pound we have meat
sandwiches and wish we could have tomatoes.
Back yard gardens are the way to go.

[George]

At $4.99 a pound in NY (and like baseballs) I wish I was in NC, call me when the tomatoes are ripe from your garden...