Fruit or Vegetable?

     Remember growing up and being told to "eat your vegetables!"?  But what if they aren't really vegetables after all, does that decree still stand?  As a Christmas present I received a book entitled On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen."  It is a fascinating compendium of knowledge that I have just begun to read.  It's one of those kind of books that you don't have to read from the beginning but can just open it up to any random section and be amazed at what you learn.  I did just that last week and happened upon a section that detailed "fruits used as vegetables."
     So what differentiates a fruit from a vegetable?  Well I suppose that a vegetable for the most part grows in the ground and is what it is from the start, like a carrot or potato.  But a fruit first becomes a blossom and then gradually matures into something else, like an apple, peach or pear.  But think for a moment of other "vegetables" as we refer to them, that also start out as a blooming plant.
     Harold McGee, the book's author begins his discussion of the fruit/vegetable dichotomy with a summery of the nightshade family.  That would include tomatoes, capsicums & eggplant.  All of which begin with a blossom.  By the way, that plant family also includes tobacco and the deadly nightshade.  But today let's concentrate on the concept that the tomato is really a fruit and not a vegetable.

 

     Tomatoes started out as a small bitter berry on bushes in the west coast deserts of South America.  They were eventually domesticated in Mexico.  In fact, the word tomato comes to us from the Aztec word  tomatl  meaning "plump fruit."  It is the second most popular fruit in the U.S.   It is rich in Vitamin C and full of beneficial lycopene.  While tomato leaves have long been considered toxic, as was the tomato itself in Europe, the leaf is actually healthful in that it aids in ridding the body of cholesterol.  So it is actually a good thing to freshen up the flavor of tomato sauces with a leaf or two.

     As mentioned, tomatoes originated in a warm climate and so should always be stored at room temperature, never in the refrigerator.  When subjected to the cold tomatoes become bland and tasteless.  And we all know that home grown vine ripened tomatoes taste best.  That's because when they are permitted to ripen naturally they accumulate more sugar, acid, and aroma.  The tomatoes we purchase at the market, especially at this time of the year are anything but that.  They are picked and shipped while still green and are then artificially stimulated with ethylene gas to force them to redden.  Their taste more closely resembles the cardboard container they are shipped in.

     So now you can impress all your friends and acquaintances with the true identity of the tomato.  I leave you for today with this old culinary adage:  Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is knowing not to put them into a fruit salad.