Tomatoes: Fruit of Vegetable?
posted by Shakenna Moore | November 21, 2023 | In OpinionEvery summer, we either pick produce from home gardens or we go to stores to buy luscious fruit and vegetables from roadside stands. We marvel at the idea of fried tomato sandwiches and an ice-cold glass of our favorite ice tea or lemonade. A tomato sandwich is a treat that is appreciated everywhere you go in the country, as long as the fruit is relatively sweet. Yes! I said fruit. Tomatoes are more often than not, cooked as a vegetable but are technically a fruit.
A fruit is developed in the ovary in the base of a flower. It contains seeds of the plant either inside or outside and it is normally sweet and fleshy. They are low in calories, high in fiber and high in natural sugar. Some examples of fruits that are thought to be vegetables are cucumbers, squash and zucchini, avocados, pea pods, green red and yellow peppers, pumpkins, olives, eggplants and corn kernels. There are many more but that’s just a few.
But the common misconception that these fruits are vegetables are not just in the popular imagination, but also enshrined in law. “In 1893 the United States Supreme Court case Nix. V. Hedden, the court ruled unanimously that an imported tomato should be taxed as a vegetable rather than a (less taxed) fruit. The court acknowledged that a tomato is a botanical fruit, but went with what they called the “ordinary” definition of fruit and vegetable that is more often used in kitchens,” as reported by the blog Live Science.
Regardless of the legal or botanical classification, though, the main thing to point out is that you can’t go wrong with fruit or vegetables.
We have always been told to eat our fruit and veggies. And we should as they play a part in fighting certain diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. So, whether you call a tomato a fruit or vegetable, it’s always good to incorporate them into your diet unless contraindicated. Just some food for thought!
Photo Courtesy of Duncan Cumming.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.