Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

The identity of tomatoes? This is probably a long-standing issue. It has not only been discussed by our ancestors, but also by foreigners. Maybe your teacher or friends around you have already told you that tomatoes are technically fruit, but the problem is not that simple. In fact, tomatoes are both fruits and vegetables.

This explanation lies in the two different ways we define “fruit”. First of all, from a scientific point of view, tomatoes are indeed fruits.

According to the Webster's Dictionary, fruit is usually "the edible genital plant of the seed plant." They also explain in simple language: it can be anything that grows on a plant, as long as the plant can spread the seeds into the world through it, it is a fruit.

In this way, apples, tomatoes, and other things that grow from plants and contain seeds can be called fruits.

On the other hand, the definition of vegetables is a bit confusing. We use this term to describe a wide variety of plants, some or all of which are edible, such as roots, stems, and leaves.

The key to the difference is that the vegetables must be part of the plant or the whole plant itself, and the fruit is only the medium and means by which certain plants spread the seeds.

Tomatoes are not part of the plant itself, which is similar to an egg in an chicken or an apple on an apple tree.

The problem with the more dizzy is that "vegetables" is not a plant classification, it is a food classification. According to the Webster's Dictionary, "fruit" can also be a culinary term, which is described as "having a sweet pulp associated with seeds" and "mainly used in dessert or dessert making processes."

Scientifically speaking, fruit does not have to be sweet. But in the kitchen, most people treat delicious fruits (such as tomatoes) as vegetables. According to the guidance of the US Department of Agriculture, tomatoes are classified as vegetables. Nutritionists also acknowledge this view. However, this controversy has also involved more complex issues. In 1893, the High Court was forced to decide whether taxes should be imposed on imported tomatoes in accordance with the then-attribute tariff law, which applies only to vegetables and not to fruits.

The opinions in the court are very interesting: “From a botany point of view, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, like cucumbers, pumpkins, beans and peas. But in common sense... all these are grown in the vegetable garden Vegetables, whether cooked or raw, are like potatoes, carrots, radishes, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, lettuce, etc. They usually appear in the main meals such as soup, fish or meat, not like Fruit is like a dessert."