Tomato | OtterKnow Kids Encyclopedia

What Are Tomatoes?

Tomatoes are one of the most popular foods in the world, used in everything from salads and sandwiches to sauces and soups. Their scientific name is Solanum lycopersicum, and they are botanically classified as fruits, specifically as berries, because they grow from flowers and contain seeds. However, in 1893 the United States Supreme Court ruled in a case called Nix v. Hedden that tomatoes should be legally classified as vegetables for trade and tax purposes. This makes the tomato one of the only foods with an official legal identity that contradicts its scientific one.

A Feared Fruit

Tomatoes were first grown by the Aztecs in what is now Mexico, who called them “tomatl.” When Spanish explorers brought tomatoes to Europe in the 1500s, many Europeans were afraid to eat them. Some people called the tomato the “poison apple” because wealthy Europeans who ate tomatoes sometimes got sick and died. The real reason was that acidic tomato juice leached lead from their fancy pewter plates, and it was the lead poisoning, not the tomatoes, that was making them ill. It took nearly 200 years before most Europeans accepted that tomatoes were safe and delicious.

How They Grow

Tomato plants are warm-weather crops that need plenty of sunlight, water, and nutrient-rich soil to produce their best fruit. There are two main types of tomato plants: determinate varieties that grow to a set size and produce all their fruit at once, and indeterminate varieties that keep growing and producing fruit all season long. Tomato plants have fuzzy stems and leaves with a distinctive smell, and they produce small yellow flowers that develop into fruit after pollination. There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes in the world, ranging from tiny cherry tomatoes to giant beefsteaks that can weigh over two pounds.

Tomatoes and Nutrition

Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C, potassium, and a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that gives them their red color. Interestingly, lycopene becomes easier for your body to absorb when tomatoes are cooked, so tomato sauce, tomato paste, and cooked tomatoes actually deliver more of this nutrient than raw tomatoes. Tomatoes are also low in calories and high in water content, making them a healthy addition to nearly any meal. Different colored tomatoes contain different nutrients: yellow tomatoes have more of a compound called niacin, while purple and black varieties are high in anthocyanins.

Fun Facts About Tomatoes

The world’s largest tomato on record weighed over eight pounds, about the weight of a newborn baby. Tomatoes are the world’s most popular “vegetable,” and global production tops 180 million tons per year. La Tomatina is a famous festival held every year in Buñol, Spain, where tens of thousands of people throw tomatoes at each other in a massive food fight. The tomato is the state vegetable of New Jersey and the state fruit of Ohio, proving that even states cannot agree on whether it is a fruit or a vegetable.