is a tomato afruit or a vegetable?

Answer 1

fruit:

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, formerly Lycopersicon lycopersicum) is a plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, native to Central, South, and southern North America from Mexico to Peru. It is a short-lived perennial plant, grown as an annual plant, typically growing to 1–3 m in height, with a weak, woody stem that usually scrambles over other plants. The genus Solanum also contains the eggplant and the potato, as well as many poisonous species. The leaves are 10–25 cm long, pinnate, with 5–9 leaflets, each leaflet up to 8 cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1–2 cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3–12 together. The fruit is an edible, brightly colored (usually red, from the pigment lycopene) berry, 1–2 cm diameter in wild plants, commonly much larger in cultivated forms.

The word tomato derives from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl. The specific name, lycopersicum, means "wolf-peach" (compare the related species S. lycocarpum, whose scientific name means "wolf-fruit", common name "wolf-apple").

Answer 2

Legally a fruit, but it really is both. 'Vegetable' is NOT a botanical term. It's a broad culinary term that can apply to anything. Here are some examples.

Potato: stem and a vegetable.
Spinach: leaf and a vegetable
Carrot: root and a vegetable

Jeesh, whether it has seeds or not is irrelevant to whether it's a vegetable or not. Eggplant and peppers are other examples of fruit-vegetables. A vegetable is just a fresh plant part that is consumed and is not sweet like a fruit. This is the culinary definition.

Botanically, a vegetable means nothing. Please avoid combining the two systems of defining.

Answer 3

It's a fruit because it has seeds and because it grows off the ground on a bush.

I'm going to sue all the supermarkets for defying the trade descriptions act and placing this fruit with all the vegetables!

Answer 4

Botanically it is a fruit, but it in the culinary arts it is treated as a vegetable.

Likewise, a carrot is a vegetable but is treated sometimes as a fruit (because the Portuguese make marmalade from carrots, and according to EU regulations you can only call something "marmalade" if it is made from fruit).

Answer 5

If it carries it's own seed - it's classed as a fruit and if it doesn't - it's classed as a vegetable.

So tomatoes are definitely a fruit!!

Answer 6

Fruit.

Answer 7

A tomato is a fruit, although many think it's a vegetable. It has it's own natural sweetness.

Answer 8

Alot of people ask that question and i have asked before myself. But a tomato is a fruit. I know, it's kind hard to debate..lol

Answer 9

I don't know. All I know is I only like tomatoes on pizza or in sauce form !

It's called the love fruit though.

Answer 10

For decades it was considered a fruit..........but the Supreme Court heard the people and said it is officially a Vegetable as of 2004- 0r 2005.............