why are tomatoes considered a fruit?

Question

if it was because of seeds, thena cucumber, pepper, or a peas would be considered a fruit.

Answer 1

My dad and I just had this conversation the other day. He looked it up online, and officially, it's cause tomatoes are the fruit of the plant's flower's ovary. The ovary of the tomato flower grows into the tomato, making it a fruit. Technically speaking, beans, squash and pumpkins are all fruits, not vegetables. A true vegetable does not have the seed bearing part of it in in the vegetable, but a fruit does, as it comes from the ovary. Think about it, the carrot and potato are roots, lettuce and spinach are leaves, you get the point. Apples, oranges, bananas and tomatoes, beans, squash and pumpkins are ALL the ovaries of the plant's flowers, making them essentially FRUITS.

Answer 2

Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruit. As others have pointed out, the fact that the ovary of the plant forms the tomato makes it a fruit.

The term vegetable is a culinary term and has no meaning in a botanical sense. The culinary term classifies vegetables by their use, not their structure or botanical classification. In culinary terms a tomato is indeed a vegetable. USDA classifies the tomato as a vegetable, at least partially due to a ruling by the US Supreme Court in 1883 that found tomatoes are vegetables.

So, while it is common belief that a plant is either a fruit or a vegetable this is not really the case. Any fruit can be a vegetable, any vegetable can be a fruit.

Answer 3

They're angiosperms. They have seeds in the ovary in the middle of the fruit, rather than all spread out everywhere like in a cucumber.

Answer 4

You can plant dried seeds of everything you mentioned, except a pea?

Answer 5

I was always told it was the presence of seeds that made something a fruit vs. non-presence in vegetables.

Answer 6

They grow on a vine and not underground and they can be eaten raw, prob better to be eaten raw than cooked. They have seeds?

Answer 7

They are in the nightshade family ..
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/tomato.html

Now here is a nice documentary that answers your question excactly...and why we call it a fruit..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Fruit_or_vegetable.3F

Answer 8

Citric acid -- makes it a citrus fruit

Answer 9

They have seeds

Answer 10

Because they are not legumes!