Why is a tomato a fruit or vegatable?

Question

It has seeds but is not sweet

Answer 1

Name one fruit that is not sweet? A tomato is a veggie. ok, now the lemon suporters can get all worked up! ever heard of tomato starburst?

Answer 2

In 1893 , the Supreme Court ruled that the tomato must be considered a vegetable, even though, botanically, it is a fruit. Because vegetables and fruits were subject to different import duties, it was necessary to define it as one or the other. So, tomatoes were declared to be a vegetable given that it was commonly eaten as one.

In the grocery store, we generally understand a fruit to be a natural plant product that is sweet, and a vegetable to be a natural plant product that is not sweet. In this standard definition, apples, strawberries, grapes and bananas are all fruits, while green beans, tomatoes, squash and potatoes are all vegetables.

Technically, however, this layman's definition is a bit off. The Encyclopedia Britannica sums it up like this:

Fruit - in its strict botanical sense, the fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds. Thus, apricots, bananas, and grapes, as well as bean pods, corn grains, tomatoes, cucumbers, and (in their shells) acorns and almonds, are all technically fruits.
This definition of fruit is very broad, and encompasses almost everything that contains seeds.

Vegetables, then, are everything that's left. This includes:

Root crops like potatoes, carrots and turnips
Bulbs like onions and garlic
Stems like asparagus
Leaves like lettuce and cabbage
Flowers like broccoli and cauliflower

In other words, things that do not contain seeds are vegetables, in the technical sense. Everything else is a fruit.

Answer 3

Do tomatoes not contain (fruit) sugar too? Not all fruits are sweet or have seeds. Why is a carrot is more orange than an orange?

Answer 4

A tomato is not sweet, so that makes it a veggie?!

A lemon is not sweet, so is it a veggie too?

In all logic, a tomato is a fruit.

Answer 5

Anything that grows with seeds enclosed is a "fruiting body". Tomatoes are fruit.

KrazyKyngeKorny
(Krazy, not stupid)

Answer 6

Seeds are what define fruit. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, avacado... all fruit.

Answer 7

I say it is a fruit. More info at:

http://www.kdcomm.net/~tomato/debate.htm

Answer 8

its a fruit only because it grows on a vine. they just concider veg. to be veg. because they come from under the ground. hope this helps.

Answer 9

It's a fruit.