Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Answer 1

Botanically speaking, it is considered a fruit because tomatoes develop from the ovaries of the flower. For culinary purposes (cooking), it is classified as a vegetable.

Answer 2

Is the tomato a fruit or vegetable?

To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. 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 (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.

Now don't go looking for tomatoes next to the oranges in your grocery stores. Certain fruits like tomatoes and green beans will probably always be mostly referred to as "vegetables" in today's society.

NOW YOU KNOW!

Answer 3

From: Askoxford.com:
The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, 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 (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.

Answer 4

Technically (botanically), a tomato is a fruit. Legally, however, it's a vegetable. In 1893 the U.S. Supreme Court declared tomatoes vegetables because they were commonly eaten with a main course and not served as desserts. That, and the fact that tax could be collected on imported vegetables (tomatoes were heavily imported from the West Indies at the time), but not on imported fruits. Incidentally, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest recorded tomato plant measured 65 feet (Lancashire, England, on May 11, 2000), and the world's largest tomato "fruit" weighed in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces (Edmund, Oklahoma, in 1985).

Answer 5

The tomato does the work for the vegetables. But some people thinks it's a fruit and starts eating it.My maid thinks that it's a fruit and starts eating it. So, basically for some people it's a fruit also as well as a vegetable also. But 99% it's a vegetable.

Answer 6

Fruit

Answer 7

Fruit.

Answer 8

fruit

Answer 9

It is considered a fruit, (love Apples)!

Answer 10

and i say its both fruit & vegetable.