Tomato.....Fruit or vegetable?

Question

Which is it please only answer if you know.

Answer 1

The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS?

If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds and so they are grouped as vegetables

Answer 2

Botanically speaking, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant, that is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, from a culinary perspective, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits; and it is typically served as part of a main course of a meal, as are other vegetables, rather than at dessert. As noted above, the term "vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States, Australia and China. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, using the popular definition which classifies vegetable by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304). While the Tomato can be classified as a fruit, it is officially categorized as a definite vegetable in the United States.

The USDA also considers the tomato a vegetable.

Strictly speaking, the holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and not much else. The court does not purport to reclassify tomato for botanical or for any other purpose other than paying a tax under a tariff act.

In concordance with this classification, the tomato has been proposed as the state fruit of New Jersey. Arkansas takes both sides by declaring the "South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato" to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its botanical and culinary classifications.

But due to the scientific definition of a fruit and a vegetable, the tomato still remains a fruit when not dealing with tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (including zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

Answer 3

Fruit

Answer 4

Fruit.

Answer 5

it's a fruit: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/tomato

but there's so many vegetable things you can do with it!

:D the reason why it's called a fruit of course of the seeds it produces.

IE: from the site source i posted above: "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"

so thus scientifically it's fruit.

enjoy it! deep fried.. sliced in a salad.. mashed up as a puree, juice it... dice it... bake it... so on.

or put sugar on it or salt... and eat it as it is.

there are also hybrids of tomatoes that are suppose to be heartier than the typical tomato.. hybrid spliced with a pepper, bell pepper.. i've had those.. they're good frying tomatoes but the juice just isn't there nor the flavor.

Answer 6

Fruit.

Answer 7

a tomato is fruit, that doesn't look like a fruit at all! People commonly mistake them for vegetables

Answer 8

Tomatoes are, contrary to popular belief, a fruit. They have visible seeds, and are very juicy. Then again, other vegetables fall under those categories...

Answer 9

Yup definitely a fruit

Answer 10

Biologically, it is a fruit. However, by decision of the U.S. Supreme court, it is recognized as a vegetable for purposes of taxation, regulation, etc.