Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

[Guest guest]

The following is an article written by the late Wayne Leiser, a botonist who

owner and opperated the Dimond Greenhouse until his recent death. I am

forwarding this to you with the permission of his son, who current owns and runs

the greenhouse.

 

It answers, with humor, a common questions about whether a tomato is a fruit or

a vegetable.

 

 

 

 

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

A frequent question with two (2) answers.

A tomato can be either, depending on how we define the two (2) terms. A

person buying a tomato from the grocer, is probably is buying a vegetable,

while to a botanist a tomato is definitely a fruit.

From a culinary point of view a fruit is generally used as a dessert. A

vegetable is usually associated with the main portion of the meal.

Botanically, a true fruit develops from the flower. It usually consists of the

seed case with its seeds. The seed case generally is

eaten with little regard to the seeds. In fact, a few true

fruits have no seeds at all. Seedless grapes and seedless

oranges are examples.

Most of the fruits used for eating are fleshy and sweet,

but there are always exceptions. Take a lemon or a lime for example. Fruits

do not need to be ripe when eaten as seen with green olives, peppers and

cucumbers.

A nut is strictly a type of fruit with a very hard shell. In the popular sense

the term also may include the thinner-shelled peanut (except this is really a

vegetable). Nuts are rich in oil and of high food value. The edible portion

of a nut is the seed or an associated part of it.

Botanically speaking a vegetable is any plant part used for food, other than

the fruit and its associated parts. That includes stems

(above or below ground) such as asparagus; roots such

as sweet potato, carrot and turnips; buds such as

cabbage, Brussels sprouts and artichoke; leaves such as

spinach, leaf lettuce and endive; leaf stalks (petioles)

such as celery and rhubarb; or a stem and flower bud

such as broccoli and cauliflower. An onion is a bulb, which is classed as a

kind of bud.

In the grocery story, seeds (other than those from nuts) are included with

vegetables; and so, indeed, are certain fruits. Peas and beans are seeds.

Green and wax beans include both seeds and pods and are true fruits. The

tomato, squash, cucumber and pepper are really fruits. Yet these are served

as vegetables. What about when the carrot is used to make a carrot cake?

Or rhubarb made into a pie? Both carrot and rhubarb are vegetables but

when served as a cake or pie do they become a fruit?

Or try this; take a watermelon (a fruit) and throw it into the air. It comes

down squash, which is a vegetable. Well, really a fruit, so what have we

grained besides making a mess? Ever thought what " nuttier than a

fruitcake " really means or where the term came from?

Enjoy fruits and vegetables whether you use the botanical or culinary terms.

Article written by Wayne Leiser

[Guest guest]

Great one Katie

 

Jeff

 

, " Katie M " <cozycate wrote:

>

> The following is an article written by the late Wayne Leiser, a botonist who

owner and opperated the Dimond Greenhouse until his recent death. I am

forwarding this to you with the permission of his son, who current owns and runs

the greenhouse.

>

> It answers, with humor, a common questions about whether a tomato is a fruit

or a vegetable.