The botanical classification: Tomatoes are fruits. A botanical fruit would have at least one seed and grow from the flower of the plant. With this definition in mind, tomatoes are classified as fruit because they contain seeds and grow from the flower of the tomato plant.
What is the classification of a tomato?
The botanical classification: Tomatoes are fruits. A botanical fruit would have at least one seed and grow from the flower of the plant. With this definition in mind, tomatoes are classified as fruit because they contain seeds and grow from the flower of the tomato plant. When was the first tomato eaten?
Is a tomato a fruit or vegetable?
A fruit contains the seeds of a plant. It is the mature ovary, produced after a flower is pollinated. Looking at the botanical definition, a tomato is a fruit, as are peppers, eggplants and squash.
How many Tomatoes in a portion?
One adult portion of a tomato is a medium sized tomato or 7 cherry tomatoes, remember to eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables so you can reach your daily 5-a-day. 3 Figure 3. Portion size of tomatoes Summary – Tomatoes are both fruits and vegetables!
What are some other fruits that are considered vegetables?
Some other fruits that are used as vegetables include squash, pea pods and cucumber. Tomatoes are botanically defined as fruits because they form from a flower and contain seeds.
Why are tomatoes legally a vegetable?
But in everyday life, they decided, vegetables were things "usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats ... and not, like fruits generally, as dessert." So under customs law, the court ruled, tomatoes counted as vegetables — and the importer had to keep paying the tariff.
How is tomato classified?
Tomatoes are fruits that are considered vegetables by nutritionists. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Tomatoes, plums, zucchinis, and melons are all edible fruits, but things like maple “helicopters” and floating dandelion puffs are fruits too.
Is tomato a vegetable or a fruit?
FruitTomato / Fruit or Vegetable
When did a tomato become a fruit?
Tomatoes are botanically defined as fruits because they form from a flower and contain seeds. Still, they're most often utilized like a vegetable in cooking. In fact, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable on the basis of its culinary applications.
What defines a fruit?
A fruit is a mature, ripened ovary, along with the contents of the ovary. The ovary is the ovule-bearing reproductive structure in the plant flower. The ovary serves to enclose and protect the ovules, from the youngest stages of flower development until the ovules become fertilized and turn into seeds.
Who said tomato is a fruit?
Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that, under U.S. customs regulations, the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit....Nix v. HeddenMajorityGray, joined by unanimousLaws appliedTariff Act of 1883 (Mongrel Tariff)12 more rows
Is a cucumber a fruit?
The botanical classification: Cucumbers are fruit. With this definition in mind, cucumbers are classified as fruit because they contain tiny seeds in the middle and grow from the flower of the cucumber plant.
What determines a fruit from a vegetable?
Botanically, fruits and vegetables are classified depending on which part of the plant they come from. A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the other parts of the plant are categorized as vegetables. Fruits contain seeds, while vegetables can consist of roots, stems and leaves.
What family is a tomato in?
NightshadeTomato / FamilyTomato, Tomatillo, Eggplant, Nipplefruit & Chayote. The nightshade family (Solanaceae) includes several species of fruits which are better-known as vegetables to most people.
Is tomato a berry?
Berries are not all tiny, and they're not all sweet. Surprisingly, eggplants, tomatoes and avocados are botanically classified as berries.
What are the characteristics of tomatoes?
They are usually red, scarlet, or yellow, though green and purple varieties do exist, and they vary in shape from almost spherical to oval and elongate to pear-shaped. Each fruit contains at least two cells of small seeds surrounded by jellylike pulp.
Is tomato a fruit or vegetable Yahoo Answers?
fruitYes, science nerds, a tomato is technically a fruit. It meets all the botanical criteria for fruits: Formed from flowers?
What is a fruit?
Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Tomatoes, plums, zucchinis, and melons are all edible fruits, but things like maple “helicopters” and floating dandelion puffs are fruits too.
What are the fruits that are considered vegetables?
In many cultures, vegetables tend to be served as part of the main dish or side, whereas sweet fruits are typically snacks or desserts. Thus, roots, tubers, stems, flower buds, leaves, and certain botanical fruits, including green beans, pumpkins, and of course tomatoes, are all considered vegetables by nutritionists.
What does "fruit" mean in nutrition?
Now, nutritionally, the term “fruit” is used to describe sweet and fleshy botanical fruits, and “ vegetable” is used to indicate a wide variety of plant parts that are not so high in fructose.
Why are fruits considered vegetables?
CULINARY VS SCIENTIFIC. The reason some fruits are thought of as vegetables has to do with how we eat them. Generally speaking, we expect fruits to be sweet. Bananas, apples, and strawberries all stay sweet when you bake or cook them, so we consider them fruits through and through.
Why do fruits grow?
In the science of plants, fruits grow from the fertilized ovary of a flower . One reason plants make fruit is so they can disperse their seeds.
What fruits are good with salad?
But some fruits are more savory than sweet, so we like to eat them with savory vegetables. That’s why you’ll find tomatoes mixing it up with the lettuce and spinach in your salad. Fruits used as vegetables: Tomatoes. Squash and pumpkins . Peppers . Cucumbers and zucchini. Eggplants.
What are the parts of a plant that we eat?
They can be leaves, stems, roots or even flowers. We eat all of those plant parts every day: spinach is a leaf, asparagus is a stem, carrots are roots and broccoli is a flower. Unlike fruits, they don’t have seeds, even though some fruits are treated as vegetables in the grocery store and on your plate.
How to tell if something is a fruit or not?
When you take a bite into a juicy tomato, all those seeds inside tell you the truth: it’s a fruit!
Is tomato a vegetable?
Those tomatoes sitting red and ripe next to the broccoli and celery are actually deep undercover. That’s because scientifically speaking tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables! Let’s bite into the explanation from National Geographic.
Why can we classify tomatoes in two different ways?
So why can we classify tomatoes in two different ways, when it confuses us all? These definitions have their own purposes. For example, the botanical classification is useful for a botanist when they want to discover the origins of tomatoes, help them identify different varieties of tomatoes, or understand how to grow and harvest various tomatoes. 1
What is the botanical classification of tomatoes?
The botanical classification: Tomatoes are fruits. A botanist would use the botanical classification, which is based on the plant’s physiological characteristics, like the structure, function and organisation of the plant. 1 Therefore, botanically speaking, a ‘fruit’ is the seed-bearing product that grows from the ovary of a flowering plant or, ...
What is the difference between fruit and vegetables?
1 Culinary speaking, a ‘vegetable’ usually has a tougher texture, tastes blander and often requires cooking in dishes like stews, soups or stir-fries. 1,2 Whereas, a ‘fruit’ has a soft texture, tends to be either sweet or tart and is often enjoyed raw or in desserts or jams. 1,2
What is a vegetable in botany?
A ‘vegetable’ in botanical terms on the other hand, does not have a set definition but is more of a general term encompassing all other edible aspects of the plant; the roots, stems and leaves. 1 So putting our botany caps on, we would classify foods like apples, strawberries and peaches as fruits including tomatoes!
Is a tomato a vegetable?
Tomatoes are part of your 5-a-day. For the 5-a-day recommendations, tomatoes are classified as a vegetable, which is the culinary definition, because that is how most people learn about fruit and vegetables. One adult portion of a tomato is a medium sized tomato or 7 cherry tomatoes, remember to eat a wide variety of fruit ...
What is a fruit?
Definition of a Fruit. A fruit contains the seeds of a plant. It is the mature ovary, produced after a flower is pollinated. Looking at the botanical definition, a tomato is a fruit, as are peppers, eggplants and squash.
What type of soil does a tomato plant like?
This annual prefers lots of sun and moist but well-drained soil. It grows in sandy, loamy and clay soils, and tolerates acidic, neutral and alkaline conditions. Tomato flowers have anthers and stamens, the male parts; they also have pistils, the female organs that contain the stigmas, styles and ovaries.
Why was the Nix vs Hedden case a fruit?
Hedden Supreme Court case of 1893. The Nix brothers sued for back taxes paid because the tomato was considered a fruit, which was taxed under then current law. Vegetables were exempt. After debating the scientific definitions as well as the opinion of the general population, Congress formally declared the tomato a vegetable, excluding it from import taxes. The deciding factor was that a tomato was served as part of the main meal, whether it was ripe or green, and therefore was a vegetable.
What are some examples of vegetables?
Common examples include lettuce, the leaves; celery, the stems; carrots, the roots; potatoes, the tubers; onions, the bulbs; and broccoli, the flowers. Peas and beans are considered vegetables, but ...
Is tomato a fruit?
Botanically speaking, the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a fruit. Legally, according to laws passed by the U.S. Congress, it is a vegetable. In the culinary world, it is most often treated as a vegetable because it is served as part of the main meal, rather than as dessert. It's an age-old argument, but scientific facts do back up ...
