Tomato - Fruit Or Vegetable? The Answer Is a Bit Complicated
The tomato was discovered in Montezuma's garden by Cortez, the Spanish conquistador according to some historians.
It was the Spaniards who took it back to the Old World along with the potato which is a relative of the tomato being in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants.
It is perhaps because of its relationship to deadly nightshade that the tomato was considered poisonous in Europe, although the Italians and Spaniards cultivated them, and they are now an integral part of the Mediterranean diet.
It is definitely a fruit, as it contains sees, but the complication arises because we use it as a vegetable in cooking and also refer to it as a salad vegetable.
Galen (circa 129 - 217 AD ) wrote about a wolf peach, which wasn't actually a peach, but poison wrapped in an attractive covering which the ancients used to destroy wolves, and the Latin name given to the tomato, lycopersicum, means wolf peach.
This name is, perhaps, an indication of how Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778), the Swedish botanist, often called the Father of Taxonomy, felt about the tomato when he named it.
It was called the pome d'oro or golden apple in Spanish and Italian which suggests that it was a yellow or golden tomato that first arrived in Europe.
Later in France it was thought to be an aphrodisiac and was known as the Love Apple (pomme d'amour).
You would be forgiven for thinking that a raw tomato is the healthiest option, but you could be wrong, as when a tomato is heated the lycopene present in the red ones is concentrated.
It is thought that lycopene (also found in water melons, apricots and guava) can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer, and a diet rich in lycopene is recommended for men.
Lycopene, it seems can be a natural Viagra, and drinking green tea and having plenty of tomatoes in a diet can lessen the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Also having a diet that contains broccoli and tomatoes helps prevent prostate cancer according to Professor John Erdman of the University of Illinois.
The tomato was still thought poisonous in the US until the late 19th century, but Joseph Campbell popularized its use with his canned tomato soup in 1897 after it had been proved that the controversial fruit was not poisonous.
Tomatoes contain vitamin A and C which have potent antioxidant properties so they are good for reducing the risk of cancer and can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Tomato juice has anti-inflammatory properties so can help sufferers of atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and cardio-vascular disorders.
Now we know that tomatoes are not poisonous, but very beneficial for our health, perhaps we should add more of them to our diets.
In Italy and Greece the tomato is a staple both in salads and in sauces, and although there are yellow, brown, purple and orange tomatoes, it seems that the red ones could be best for our health.
It was the Spaniards who took it back to the Old World along with the potato which is a relative of the tomato being in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants.
It is perhaps because of its relationship to deadly nightshade that the tomato was considered poisonous in Europe, although the Italians and Spaniards cultivated them, and they are now an integral part of the Mediterranean diet.
It is definitely a fruit, as it contains sees, but the complication arises because we use it as a vegetable in cooking and also refer to it as a salad vegetable.
Galen (circa 129 - 217 AD ) wrote about a wolf peach, which wasn't actually a peach, but poison wrapped in an attractive covering which the ancients used to destroy wolves, and the Latin name given to the tomato, lycopersicum, means wolf peach.
This name is, perhaps, an indication of how Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778), the Swedish botanist, often called the Father of Taxonomy, felt about the tomato when he named it.
It was called the pome d'oro or golden apple in Spanish and Italian which suggests that it was a yellow or golden tomato that first arrived in Europe.
Later in France it was thought to be an aphrodisiac and was known as the Love Apple (pomme d'amour).
You would be forgiven for thinking that a raw tomato is the healthiest option, but you could be wrong, as when a tomato is heated the lycopene present in the red ones is concentrated.
It is thought that lycopene (also found in water melons, apricots and guava) can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer, and a diet rich in lycopene is recommended for men.
Lycopene, it seems can be a natural Viagra, and drinking green tea and having plenty of tomatoes in a diet can lessen the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Also having a diet that contains broccoli and tomatoes helps prevent prostate cancer according to Professor John Erdman of the University of Illinois.
The tomato was still thought poisonous in the US until the late 19th century, but Joseph Campbell popularized its use with his canned tomato soup in 1897 after it had been proved that the controversial fruit was not poisonous.
Tomatoes contain vitamin A and C which have potent antioxidant properties so they are good for reducing the risk of cancer and can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Tomato juice has anti-inflammatory properties so can help sufferers of atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and cardio-vascular disorders.
Now we know that tomatoes are not poisonous, but very beneficial for our health, perhaps we should add more of them to our diets.
In Italy and Greece the tomato is a staple both in salads and in sauces, and although there are yellow, brown, purple and orange tomatoes, it seems that the red ones could be best for our health.
