Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?

Question

We were fighting about it at dinner...and I think it's a vegetable but we never resolved the issue. Thanksss:]

Answer 1

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 2

It is a fruit if you don't know. It's because it has seeds and all fruits have seeds so it does count as a fruit and vegetable it is both but most of all many people can it a vegetable but use it any way and it is right so it doesn't mater what you call it so call it a fruit or vegetable the true news mostly an fruit


ruit or vegetable?
Tomato fruit
Tomato fruit

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

This argument has had legal implications in the United States. 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 the controversy in 1893 by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)). The holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes other than paying a tax under a tariff act.

The tomato has been designated the state vegetable of New Jersey. Arkansas took 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. In 2006, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a law that would have declared the tomato to be the official state fruit, but the bill died when the Ohio Senate failed to act on it. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. A.W. Livingston, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 1800s.

Due to the scientific definition of a fruit, the tomato remains a fruit when not dealing with US tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (such as zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity. so it is a fruit to me

Answer 3

Fruit

Answer 4

Fruit

Answer 5

Fruit

Answer 6

The tomato is a fruit. I'd be the first to put it in the vegetable category myself but the fact is, it's a fruit. It has to do with how it's pollinated and how it reproduces that puts it in the fruit category. Yet I hear tell the government has procclaimed it a vegetable in order to put an end to the dispute. Guess that makes apples and pears vegetables, too.

Answer 7

Anything with seeds is a fruit. Virtually everything we call a vegetable is technically a fruit, including tomatoes.

Answer 8

tomato is a fruit. but its more often treated as a part of vegetable. you put them as a garnish and even put em in salad bowl with other vegetables. so people think of its as a vegetable. and if you wanna know more, tomato has all the criteria to be a fruit. it has seeds,flesh and skin and its produced after a flower of the plant is pollinated. so it is a fruit.

Answer 9

Fruit.

Answer 10

Vegetable.
The US Supreme Court says it is a vegetable.
NIX v. HEDDEN, 149 U.S. 304 (1893)
"Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of provisions, all these are vegetables"