Why Is a Tomato a Fruit?

Have you ever wondered why a tomato is a fruit? A tomato is a versatile ingredient that is rarely thought of as a fruit, even though that is their technical classification. The tomato is technically a fruit because it develops from the ovary of the plant. Scientifically and botanically, the ovary, and its seeds, of a flowering plant are the fruit of the plant. Specifically, the tomato is classified as a berry.

The tomato develops from the ovary of the plant after it is fertilized, and the flesh of the tomato are the pericarp walls. The locular cavities of the tomato contain the seeds and moisture of the fruit. Thus, the tomato is a fruit.

However, it should be noted that in the Supreme Court case, Nix v. Hedden, the Court classified the tomato as a vegetable. The case came before the court because it was necessary to determine the tomato’s official status due to a tariff law that Congress had passed. The tariff law imposed a tariff on vegetables, but did not impose it on fruit. The court interpreted the tomato as a vegetable because it is typically served at dinner and not at dessert.

Fruits versus Vegetables

However, since the tomato is not as sweet as most fruits, the tomato is often considered a vegetable in recipes. There are other “fruits”  that are scientifically fruits, and yet they are used in recipes as vegetables. Some examples of these “fruits” are the following: eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkins.

Plants

The tomato plant is an herbaceous plant in the nightshade family. The plant usually grows from anywhere between three feet and ten feet high. It has a sprawling stem that frequently grows over other plants and bushes.

The leaves on a tomato are usually between four and ten inches long, and the leaves are frequently somewhat hairy. The tomato plant sprouts flowers which are yellow in color and can grow almost an inch in length.

The tomato plant is a perennial, which means that the plant can live for more than ten years. They grow and bloom over the spring and the summer, and then die each autumn and winter. When the spring comes back again, the plant returns from their root stock.

Harvesting

When a tomato is picked, it is usually picked unripe. Thus, tomatoes are frequently picked when they are green in color, rather than one of their other colors. These unripe tomatoes are extremely firm.

As they ripen, they change color and become softer. The tomatoes will change from a green to either a red or an orange. It is best to let them become ripe naturally, although sometimes a chemical is used to decrease the amount of time this usually takes. This chemical is ethylene, a hydrocarbon gas.

However, when ethylene is used to decrease the amount of time for a tomato to ripen, the flavor of the tomato is not as strong and its texture is starchier than when a tomato ripens naturally.

Benefits

Tomatoes are extremely healthy for individuals, and contain lycopene. Lycopene are one of the world’s most powerful antioxidants and can protect one’s skin from ultraviolet rays. For every one hundred grams, the tomato has about twenty calories. For the same amount, the tomato also has about four grams of carbohydrates, a little less than three grams of sugar, about one gram of fiber, about one gram of protein, and almost no fat. For the same amount, the tomato is composed of about twenty two percent of Vitamin C and contains about one hundred grams of water.