Tomato
Encyclopedia
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant (Solanum lycopersicum) or the edible, typically red, fruit
which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas
, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouse
s in cooler climates.
The tomato fruit is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in many dishes and sauces, and in drinks. While it is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable
for culinary purposes (as well as by the United States Supreme Court, see Nix v. Hedden
), which has caused some confusion. The fruit is rich in lycopene
, which may have beneficial health effects.
The tomato belongs to the nightshade family
. The plants typically grow to 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial
in its native habitat, although often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual
.
. One species, Solanum lycopersicum, was transported to Mexico, where it was grown and consumed by Mesoamerica
n civilizations. The exact date of domestication is not known. The first domesticated tomato may have been a little yellow fruit, similar in size to a cherry tomato
, grown by the Aztec
s of Central Mexico. The word "tomato" comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl, literally "the swelling fruit".
Spanish explorer Cortés
may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City, in 1521, although Christopher Columbus
, a Genoese working for the Spanish monarchy, may have taken them back as early as 1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal
written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli
, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, or "golden apple".
Aztecs and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking; it was cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by 500 BC. The Pueblo
people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination
. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated in Mesoamerica, and may be the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.
, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean
. They also took it to the Philippines
, from where it spread to southeast Asia
and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climate
s, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples
in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, however, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration before it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century.
, a barber-surgeon
. Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597, and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed it was poisonous (in fact, the plant and raw fruit do have low levels of tomatine
, but are not generally dangerous; see below). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain
and its North American colonies
. By the mid-18th century, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain, and before the end of that century, the Encyclopædia Britannica
stated the tomato was "in daily use" in soup
s, broth
s, and as a garnish.
The tomato entered Iran through two separate routes; one was through Turkey and Armenia, and the other was through the Qajar royal family's frequent travels to France. The early name used for tomato in Iran was Armani badenjan (Armenian eggplant). Currently, the name used for tomato in Iran is gojeh farangi [foreign (literally, European) plum].
is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon
reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina
. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plant
s than as food. Thomas Jefferson
, who ate tomatoes in Paris, sent some seeds back to America.
Because of the long growing season needed for this heat-loving crop, several states in the US Sun Belt
became major tomato-producers, particularly Florida
and California
. In California, tomatoes are grown under irrigation
for both the fresh fruit market and for canning and processing. The University of California, Davis
(UC Davis) became a major center for research on the tomato. The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis is a gene bank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic stocks of tomato. The Center is named for the late Dr. Charles M. Rick
, a pioneer in tomato genetics research. Research on processing tomatoes is also conducted by the California Tomato Research Institute in Escalon, California
.
In California, growers have used a method of cultivation called dry-farming, especially with Early Girl
tomatoes. This technique encourages the plant to send roots deep to find existing moisture in soil that retains moisture, such as clayey soil.
The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruit
s, with thousands of cultivar
s having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size, from tomberries, about 5 mm in diameter, through cherry tomato
es, about the same 1 – size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 centimetres (4 in) or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5 – diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit, but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, black, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning
and sauces are often elongated, 7 – long and 4 – diameter; they are known as plum tomato
es, and have a lower water content. Roma
-type tomatoes are important cultivars in the Sacramento Valley
.
Tomatoes are one of the most common garden fruits in the United States and, along with zucchini
, have a reputation for outproducing the needs of the grower.
Quite a few seed merchants and banks provide a large selection of heirloom seeds. The definition of an heirloom tomato is vague, but unlike commercial hybrids, all are self-pollinators who have bred true
for 40 years or more.
About 150 million tons of tomatoes were produced in the world in 2009. China, the largest producer, accounted for about one quarter of the global output, followed by United States and India
. For one variety, plum or processing tomatoes, California accounts for 90% of U.S. production and 35% of world production.
According to FAOSTAT, the top producers of tomatoes (in tonne
s) in 2009 were:
Within the EU, there are several areas that grow tomatoes with Protected Geographical Status
. These include:
es are becoming increasingly popular, particularly among home gardeners and organic producers, since they tend to produce more interesting and flavorful crops at the cost of disease resistance and productivity.
Hybrid plants remain common, since they tend to be heavier producers, and sometimes combine unusual characteristics of heirloom tomatoes with the ruggedness of conventional commercial tomatoes.
Tomato varieties are roughly divided into several categories, based mostly on shape and size.
Early tomatoes and cool-summer tomatoes bear fruit even where nights are cool, which usually discourages fruit set. There are also varieties high in beta carotenes and vitamin A, hollow tomatoes and tomatoes which keep for months in storage.
Tomatoes are also commonly classified as determinate
or indeterminate
. Determinate, or bush, types bear a full crop all at once and top off at a specific height; they are often good choices for container growing. Determinate types are preferred by commercial growers who wish to harvest a whole field at one time, or home growers interested in canning. Indeterminate varieties develop into vines that never top off and continue producing until killed by frost. They are preferred by home growers and local-market farmers who want ripe fruit throughout the season. As an intermediate form, there are plants sometimes known as vigorous determinate or semideterminate; these top off like determinates, but produce a second crop after the initial crop. The majority of heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate, although some determinate heirlooms exist.
Most modern tomato cultivars are smooth surfaced, but some older tomato cultivars and most modern beefsteaks often show pronounced ribbing, a feature that may have been common to virtually all pre-Columbian
cultivars. While virtually all commercial tomato varieties are red, some cultivars – especially heirlooms – produce fruit in other colors, including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, ivory, white, and purple. Such fruit are not widely available in grocery stores, nor are their seedlings available in typical nurseries, but they can be bought as seed. Less common variations include fruit with stripes (Green Zebra), fuzzy skin on the fruit (Fuzzy Peach, Red Boar), multiple colors (Hillbilly
, Burracker's Favorite, Lucky Cross), etc.
There is also a considerable gap between commercial and home-gardener cultivars; home cultivars are often bred for flavor to the exclusion of all other qualities, while commercial cultivars are bred for such factors as consistent size and shape, disease and pest resistance, suitability for mechanized picking and shipping, and ability to be picked before fully ripening.
Tomatoes grow well with seven hours of sunlight a day. A fertilizer with an NPK ratio
of 5-10-10 is often sold as tomato fertilizer or vegetable fertilizer, although manure and compost are also used.
s. One common tomato disease is tobacco mosaic virus
, so smoking or use of tobacco
products are discouraged around tomatoes, although there is some scientific debate over whether the virus could possibly survive being burned and converted into smoke. Various forms of mildew
and blight
are also common tomato afflictions, which is why tomato cultivars are often marked with a combination of letters which refer to specific disease resistance. The most common letters are: V – verticillium
wilt
, F – fusarium
wilt
strain I, FF – fusarium wilt strain I and II, N – nematode
s, T – tobacco mosaic virus
, and A – alternaria
.
Another particularly dreaded disease is curly top
, carried by the beet leafhopper
, which interrupts the lifecycle, ruining a nightshade plant as a crop. As the name implies, it has the symptom of making the top leaves of the plant wrinkle up and grow abnormally.
Some common tomato pests are stink bugs, cutworm
s, tomato hornworm
s and tobacco hornworm
s, aphid
s, cabbage looper
s, whiteflies
, tomato fruitworms, flea beetle
s, red spider mite, slug
s, and Colorado potato beetle
s.
When insects attack tomato plants, they produce the plant peptide hormone, systemin
, which activates defensive mechanisms, such as the production of protease inhibitors
to slow the growth of insects. The hormone was first identified in tomatoes, but similar proteins have been identified in other species since.
In fact, one of the most famous pairings is the tomato plant and carrots, studies supporting this relationship having produced a popular book about companion planting, Carrots Love Tomatoes.
Additionally, the devastating tomato hornworm has a major predator in various parasitic wasp
s, whose larvae devour the hornworm, but whose adult form drinks nectar from tiny-flowered plants like umbellifers. Several species of umbellifer are therefore often grown with tomato plants, including parsley
, queen anne's lace
, and occasionally dill
. These also attract predatory flies that attack various tomato pestshttp://www.tomatocasual.com/2008/05/06/boost-your-tomatoes-with-companion-planting-part-1/.
On the other hand, borage
is thought to actually repel the tomato hornworm
mothhttp://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/qt/Companion-Planting-Idea-Plant-Tomatoes-Borage-And-Squash-Together.htm.
Other plants with strong scents, like alliums (onions, chives
, garlic
) and mints (basil
, oregano
, spearmint
are simply thought to mask the scent of the tomato plant, making it harder for pests to locate it, or to provide an alternative landing point, reducing the odds of the pests from attacking the correct planthttp://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html. These plants may also subtly impact the flavor of tomato fruithttp://www.homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm.
Ground cover plants, including mints, also stabilize moisture loss around tomato plants and other solaneae, which come from very humid climates, and therefore may prevent moisture-related problems like blossom end rot.
Finally, tap-root plants like dandelions break up dense soil and bring nutrients from down below a tomato plant's reach, possibly benefiting their companion.
Tomato plants, on the other hand, protect asparagus
from asparagus beetle
s, because they contain solanum that kills this pest, while asparagus plants (as well as marigold
shttp://www.homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm) contain a chemical that repels root nematodes known to attack tomato plants.
In the wild, original state, tomatoes required cross-pollination
; they were much more self-incompatible
than domestic cultivars. As a floral device to reduce selfing, the pistil of wild tomatoes extends farther out of the flower than today's cultivars. The stamen
s were, and remain, entirely within the closed corolla
.
As tomatoes were moved from their native areas, their traditional pollinator
s, (probably a species of halictid
bee
) did not move with them. The trait of self-fertility became an advantage, and domestic cultivar
s of tomato have been selected to maximize this trait.
This is not the same as self-pollination
, despite the common claim that tomatoes do so. That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse
situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebee
s. The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen
produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of outside motion. The best source of outside motion is a sonicating
bee, such as a bumblebee, or the original wild halictid pollinator. In an outside setting, wind or animals provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.
s in cooler climates, and there are cultivars such as the British 'Moneymaker' and a number of cultivars grown in Siberia
that are specifically bred for indoor growing. In more temperate climates, it is not uncommon to start seeds in greenhouses during the late winter for future transplant.
Hydroponic tomatoes are also available, and the technique is often used in hostile growing environments, as well as high-density plantings.
Tomatoes are often picked unripe (and thus colored green) and ripened in storage with ethylene
. Unripe tomatoes are firm. As they ripen they soften until reaching the ripe state where they are red or orange in color and slightly soft to the touch. Ethylene is a hydrocarbon gas produced by many fruits that acts as the molecular cue to begin the ripening process. Tomatoes ripened in this way tend to keep longer, but have poorer flavor and a mealier, starchier texture than tomatoes ripened on the plant. They may be recognized by their color, which is more pink or orange than the other ripe tomatoes' deep red, depending on variety.
A machine-harvestable variety of tomato (the "square tomato") was developed in the 1950s by University of California, Davis
's Gordie C. Hanna
, which, in combination with the development of a suitable harvester, revolutionized the tomato-growing industry. In 1994, Calgene introduced a genetically modified tomato called the 'FlavrSavr
', which could be vine ripened without compromising shelf life
. However, the product was not commercially successful, and was only sold until 1997.
Recently, stores have begun selling "tomatoes on the vine", which are determinate varieties that are ripened or harvested with the fruits still connected to a piece of vine. These tend to have more flavor than artificially ripened tomatoes (at a price premium).
Slow-ripening cultivars of tomato have been developed by crossing a nonripening cultivar with ordinary cultivars. Cultivars were selected whose fruits have a long shelf life and at least reasonable flavor.
At home, fully ripe tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator
, but are best kept at room temperature
. Tomatoes stored cold will still be edible, but tend to lose flavor; thus, "Never Refrigerate" stickers are sometimes placed on tomatoes in supermarkets.
have been developed, and although none are commercially
available now, they have been in the past. The first commercially available genetically modified food
was a variety of tomato named (the Flavr Savr), which was engineered to have a longer shelf life. Scientists are continuing to develop tomatoes with new traits not found in natural crops, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses. Other projects aim to enrich tomatoes with substances that may offer health benefits or provide better nutrition.
The tomato is now grown and eaten around the world. It is used in diverse ways, including raw in salad
s, and processed into ketchup
or tomato soup
. Unripe green tomatoes can also be breaded and fried
, used to make salsa
, or pickled. Tomato juice
is sold as a drink
, and is used in cocktails such as the Bloody Mary
.
Tomatoes are acid
ic, making them especially easy to preserve in home canning
whole, in pieces, as tomato sauce
or paste
. The fruit is also preserved by drying, often in the sun, and sold either in bags or in jars with oil.
Tomatoes are used extensively in Mediterranean cuisine, especially Italian
and Middle Eastern
cuisines. They are a key ingredient in pizza
, and are commonly used in pasta
sauces. They are also used in gazpacho
(Spanish cuisine
) and pa amb tomàquet
(Catalan cuisine
).
Though it is botanically a berry
, a subset of fruit
, the tomato is a vegetable
for culinary purposes, because of its savory flavor (see below).
, one of the most powerful natural antioxidant
s. In some studies, lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer
, but other research contradicts this claim. Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays. Natural genetic variation in tomatoes and their wild relatives has given a genetic plethora of genes that produce lycopene, carotene, anthocyanin, and other antioxidants. Tomato varieties are available with double the normal vitamin C
(Doublerich), 40 times normal vitamin A
(97L97), high levels of anthocyanin
(resulting in blue tomatoes
), and two to four times the normal amount of lycopene (numerous available cultivars with the high crimson gene).
Tomato consumption has been associated with decreased risk of breast cancer, head and neck cancers and might be strongly protective against neurodegenerative diseases. Tomatoes and tomato sauces and puree are said to help lower urinary tract symptoms
(BPH
) and may have anticancer properties.
Tomato consumption might be beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk associated with type 2 diabetes.
and other tropane alkaloids that are toxic if ingested. Ripened fruit does not contain these compounds. Leaves, stems, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the poisonous alkaloid tomatine
.
Use of tomato leaves in tea (tisane
) has been responsible for at least one death. However, levels of tomatine are generally too small to be dangerous.
Tomato plants can be toxic to dogs if they eat large amounts of the fruit, or chew plant material.
On October 30, 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) announced tomatoes might have been the source of a salmonellosis
outbreak causing 172 illnesses in 18 states. Tomatoes have been linked to seven salmonella outbreaks since 1990.
The 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak
caused the removal of tomatoes from stores and restaurants across the United States and parts of Canada, although other foods, including jalapeño
and serrano
peppers, may have been involved.
Tomato plants are dicots, and grow as a series of branching stems, with a terminal bud at the tip that does the actual growing. When that tip eventually stops growing, whether because of pruning or flowering, lateral buds take over and grow into other, fully functional, vines.
Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs. These hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original root has been damaged or severed.
Most tomato plants have compound leaves, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants, but some cultivars have simple leaves known as potato leaf
(PL) style because of their resemblance to that close cousin. Of RL plants, there are variations, such as rugose leaves, which are deeply grooved, and variegated, angora leaves, which have additional colors where a genetic mutation causes chlorophyll
to be excluded from some portions of the leaves.
The leaves
are 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 in) long, odd pinnate, with five to 9 leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 centimetres (3 in) long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy.
Their flower
s, appearing on the apical meristem
, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style. Flowers in domestic cultivars tend to be self-fertilizing. The flowers are 1–2 cm (0.393700787401575–0.78740157480315 in) across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together.
Tomato fruit is classified as a berry
. As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls. The fruit contains hollow spaces full of seeds and moisture, called locular cavities. These vary, among cultivated species, according to type. Some smaller varieties have two cavities, globe-shaped varieties typically have three to five, beefsteak tomatoes have a great number of smaller cavities, while paste tomatoes have very few, very small cavities.
For propagation, the seeds need to come from a mature fruit, and be dried or fermented before germination.
placed the tomato in the genus
Solanum
(alongside the potato
) as Solanum lycopersicum. In 1768,though, Philip Miller
moved it to its own genus, naming it Lycopersicon esculentum. This name came into wide use, but was in breach of the plant naming rules. Technically, the combination Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) H.Karst.
would be more correct, but this name (published in 1881) has hardly ever been used (except in seed catalogs, which frequently used it and still do).
Genetic
evidence has now shown that Linnaeus was correct to put the tomato in the genus Solanum, making Solanum lycopersicum the correct name. Both names, however, will probably be found in the literature for some time. Two of the major reasons some still consider the genera separate are the leaf structure (tomato leaves are markedly different from any other Solanum), and the biochemistry (many of the alkaloids common to other Solanum species are conspicuously absent in the tomato). Hybrids of tomato and diploid potato
can be created in the lab by somatic fusion
, and are partially fertile, providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.
An international consortium of researchers from 10 countries, among them researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
, began sequencing the tomato genome
in 2004, and is creating a database of genomic sequences and information on the tomato and related plants. A prerelease version of the genome was made available in December, 2009. The genomes of its mitochondria and chloroplast
s are also being sequenced as part of the project.
, AVRDC
, and numerous seed banks
around the world store seed representing genetic variations of value to modern agriculture. These seed stocks are available for legitimate breeding and research efforts. While individual breeding efforts can produce useful results, the bulk of tomato breeding work is at universities and major agriculture-related corporations. These efforts have resulted in significant regionally adapted breeding lines and hybrids, such as the Mountain series from North Carolina. Corporations including Heinz
, Monsanto
, BHNSeed, Bejoseed, etc., have breeding programs that attempt to improve production, size, shape, color, flavor, disease tolerance, pest tolerance, nutritional value, and numerous other traits.
: the ovary
, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant
. However, the tomato has a much lower sugar content than other fruits, and is therefore not as sweet. Typically served as part of a salad or main course
of a meal, rather than at dessert
, it is considered a vegetable for most culinary purposes. One exception is that tomatoes are treated as a fruit in home canning practices: they are acidic enough to be processed in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as "vegetables" require. Tomatoes are not the only foodstuff with this ambiguity: eggplants, cucumber
s, and squashes
of all kinds (such as zucchini
and pumpkin
s) are all botanically fruits, yet cooked as vegetables.
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 on May 10, 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.
Tomatoes have 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 culinary and botanical classifications. In 2009, the state of Ohio
passed a law making the tomato the state's official fruit. 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 19th century; his efforts are commemorated in Reynoldsburg with an annual Tomato Festival.
myths. These said that deadly nightshade was used to summon werewolves, so the tomato's similar, but much larger, fruit was called the "wolf peach" when it arrived in Europe.
The Aztecs called the fruit xitomatl (ʃiːˈtomatɬ), meaning plump thing with a navel. Other Mesoamerican peoples, including the Nahuas, took the name as tomatl, from which some European languages derived the name "tomato".
in different English-speaking countries; the two most common variants are təˈmɑːtoʊ and təˈmeɪtoʊ . Speakers from the British Isles, most of the Commonwealth
, and speakers of Southern American English
typically say /təˈmɑːtoʊ/, while most North American
speakers usually say /təˈmeɪtoʊ/.
The word's dual pronunciations
were immortalized in Ira
and George Gershwin
's 1937 song Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
("You like /pəˈteɪtoʊ/ and I like /pəˈtɑːtoʊ/ / You like /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and I like /təˈmɑːtoʊ/") and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has even become an American and British slang term: saying /təˈmeɪtoʊ, təˈmɑːtoʊ/ when presented with two choices can mean "What's the difference?" or "It's all the same to me."
The heaviest tomato ever, weighing 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz), was of the cultivar 'Delicious', grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma
in 1986. The largest tomato plant grown was of the cultivar 'Sungold' and reached 19.8 m (65 ft) in length, grown by Nutriculture Ltd (UK) of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK, in 2000.
The massive "tomato tree" growing inside the Walt Disney World Resort
's experimental greenhouses in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
may be the largest single tomato plant in the world. The plant has been recognized as a Guinness World Record Holder, with a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and a total weight of 522 kg (1,150.8 lb). It yields thousands of tomatoes at one time from a single vine. Yong Huang, Epcot
's manager of agricultural science, discovered the unique plant in Beijing, China. Huang brought its seeds to Epcot and created the specialized greenhouse for the fruit to grow. The vine grows golf ball-sized tomatoes which are served at Walt Disney World restaurants.
Unfortunately, the world record-setting tomato tree can no longer be seen by guests along the Living With the Land
boat ride at Epcot, as the tree developed a disease and was removed in April 2010 after approximately 13 months of life.
On August 30, 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered in Buñol
to throw 115000 kilograms (253,531.6 lb) of tomatoes at each other in the yearly Tomatina
festival
.
, Spain, annually celebrates La Tomatina
, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight. Tomatoes are also a popular "nonlethal" throwing weapon in mass protests, and there was a common tradition of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad performers on a stage during the 19th century; today this is usually referenced as a mere metaphor. Embracing it for this protest connotation, the Dutch Socialist party
adopted the tomato as their logo.
The US city of Reynoldsburg, Ohio
calls itself "The Birthplace of the Tomato", claiming the first commercial variety of tomato was bred there in the 19th century.
Several US states have adopted the tomato as a state fruit or vegetable (see above).
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s in cooler climates.
The tomato fruit is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in many dishes and sauces, and in drinks. While it is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
for culinary purposes (as well as by the United States Supreme Court, see Nix v. Hedden
Nix v. Hedden
Nix v. Hedden, , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that affirmed the lower court ruling that the tomato should be classified under customs regulations as a vegetable rather than a fruit...
), which has caused some confusion. The fruit is rich in lycopene
Lycopene
Lycopene is a bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons and papayas...
, which may have beneficial health effects.
The tomato belongs to the nightshade family
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
. The plants typically grow to 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
in its native habitat, although often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
.
History
The tomato is native to South America. Genetic evidence shows the progenitors of tomatoes were herbaceous green plants with small green fruit and a center of diversity in the highlands of PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. One species, Solanum lycopersicum, was transported to Mexico, where it was grown and consumed by Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n civilizations. The exact date of domestication is not known. The first domesticated tomato may have been a little yellow fruit, similar in size to a cherry tomato
Cherry tomato
A cherry tomato is a small variety of tomato that has been cultivated since at least the early 1800s and thought to have originated in Peru and Northern Chile. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from being spherical to slightly oblong in shape...
, grown by the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s of Central Mexico. The word "tomato" comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl, literally "the swelling fruit".
Spanish explorer Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City, in 1521, although Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, a Genoese working for the Spanish monarchy, may have taken them back as early as 1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal
Herbal
AThe use of a or an depends on whether or not herbal is pronounced with a silent h. herbal is "a collection of descriptions of plants put together for medicinal purposes." Expressed more elaborately — it is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their...
written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli
Pietro Andrea Mattioli
Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli was a doctor and naturalist born in Siena.He received his MD at the University of Padua in 1523, and subsequently practiced the profession in Siena, Rome, Trento and Gorizia, becoming personal physician of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria in Prague and Ambras...
, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, or "golden apple".
Aztecs and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking; it was cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by 500 BC. The Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated in Mesoamerica, and may be the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.
Spanish distribution
After the Spanish colonization of the AmericasSpanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. They also took it to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, from where it spread to southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
s, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, however, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration before it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century.
Britain
Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s. One of the earliest cultivators was John GerardJohn Gerard
John Gerard aka John Gerarde was an English herbalist notable for his herbal garden and botany writing. In 1597 he published a large and heavily illustrated "Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes", which went on to be the most widely circulated botany book in English in the 17th century...
, a barber-surgeon
Barber surgeon
The barber surgeon was one of the most common medical practitioners of medieval Europe - generally charged with looking after soldiers during or after a battle...
. Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597, and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed it was poisonous (in fact, the plant and raw fruit do have low levels of tomatine
Tomatine
Tomatine is a toxic glycoalkaloid found in the stems and leaves of tomato plants, which has fungicidal properties. Chemically pure tomatine is a white crystalline solid at standard temperature and pressure...
, but are not generally dangerous; see below). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and its North American colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
. By the mid-18th century, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain, and before the end of that century, the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
stated the tomato was "in daily use" in soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
s, broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
s, and as a garnish.
Middle East
The tomato was introduced to cultivation in the Middle East by John Barker, British consul in Aleppo circa 1799 to 1825. Nineteenth century descriptions of its consumption are uniformly as an ingredient in a cooked dish. In 1881, it is described as only eaten in the region "within the last forty years".The tomato entered Iran through two separate routes; one was through Turkey and Armenia, and the other was through the Qajar royal family's frequent travels to France. The early name used for tomato in Iran was Armani badenjan (Armenian eggplant). Currently, the name used for tomato in Iran is gojeh farangi [foreign (literally, European) plum].
North America
The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North AmericaBritish North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon
William Salmon
William Salmon , advertising himself as "Professor of Physick", was a writer of medical texts that savor to the modern eye of quackery. His Medicina Practica, with the Claris Alcymiae, reveals its scope in its subtitle:...
reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s than as food. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, who ate tomatoes in Paris, sent some seeds back to America.
Because of the long growing season needed for this heat-loving crop, several states in the US Sun Belt
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt or Spanish Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest . Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel, north latitude. It is the largest region which the U.S government does not recognize officially...
became major tomato-producers, particularly Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In California, tomatoes are grown under irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
for both the fresh fruit market and for canning and processing. The University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
(UC Davis) became a major center for research on the tomato. The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis is a gene bank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic stocks of tomato. The Center is named for the late Dr. Charles M. Rick
Charles M. Rick
Charles M. Rick was a plant geneticist and botanist who pioneered research on the origins of the tomato. He was widely regarded as the world's leading authority on tomato biology. Born in 1915 in Reading, PA, Rick earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1937 fromPennsylvania State University...
, a pioneer in tomato genetics research. Research on processing tomatoes is also conducted by the California Tomato Research Institute in Escalon, California
Escalon, California
Escalon is a city in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 7,132 at the 2010 census, up from 5,963 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
.
In California, growers have used a method of cultivation called dry-farming, especially with Early Girl
Early Girl
The Early Girl tomato is a medium globe type F1 hybrid popular with home gardeners because of its early fruit ripening. Early Girl is an indeterminate variety. It is tall growing and needs support as the plant grows. Fruit maturity claims range from 50 to 62 days from transplanting, which appeals...
tomatoes. This technique encourages the plant to send roots deep to find existing moisture in soil that retains moisture, such as clayey soil.
Cultivation
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, with thousands of cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size, from tomberries, about 5 mm in diameter, through cherry tomato
Cherry tomato
A cherry tomato is a small variety of tomato that has been cultivated since at least the early 1800s and thought to have originated in Peru and Northern Chile. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from being spherical to slightly oblong in shape...
es, about the same 1 – size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 centimetres (4 in) or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5 – diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit, but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, black, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning
Canning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...
and sauces are often elongated, 7 – long and 4 – diameter; they are known as plum tomato
Plum tomato
A plum tomato, also known as a processing tomato or paste tomato, is a type of tomato bred for sauce and packing purposes. They are generally oval or cylindrical in shape, with significantly fewer seed compartments than standard round tomatoes and a generally higher solid content, making them more...
es, and have a lower water content. Roma
Roma Tomato
Roma tomato or Roma is a plum tomato which is commonly found in supermarkets. The tomato is a meaty, egg- or pear-shaped tomato that is available in red and yellow. It has few seeds and is a good canning and sauce tomato...
-type tomatoes are important cultivars in the Sacramento Valley
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...
.
Tomatoes are one of the most common garden fruits in the United States and, along with zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
, have a reputation for outproducing the needs of the grower.
Quite a few seed merchants and banks provide a large selection of heirloom seeds. The definition of an heirloom tomato is vague, but unlike commercial hybrids, all are self-pollinators who have bred true
True breeding organism
A true breeding organism, sometimes also called a pure-bred, is an organism having certain biological traits which are passed on to all subsequent generations when bred with another true breeding organism for the same traits...
for 40 years or more.
About 150 million tons of tomatoes were produced in the world in 2009. China, the largest producer, accounted for about one quarter of the global output, followed by United States and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. For one variety, plum or processing tomatoes, California accounts for 90% of U.S. production and 35% of world production.
According to FAOSTAT, the top producers of tomatoes (in tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s) in 2009 were:
| Top Tomato Producers – 2009 (in tonnes) |
|
|---|---|
| 45,365,543 | |
| 14,141,900 | |
| 11,148,800 | |
| 10,745,600 | |
| 10,000,000 | |
| World Total | 152,956,115 |
Within the EU, there are several areas that grow tomatoes with Protected Geographical Status
Protected Geographical Status
Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...
. These include:
- Pomodoro di PachinoPomodoro di PachinoThe Pomodoro di Pachino is an IGP/PGI classification for tomatoes from the southeast coast of Sicily, Italy.The EU granted IGP protection in 2003.-Varieties:...
(PGI), in SicilySicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,... - Pomodoro S. Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-NocerinoSan Marzano tomatoSan Marzano tomatoes, a variety of plum tomatoes, are considered by many chefs to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world.-History:The story goes that the first seed of the San Marzano tomato came to Campania in 1770, as a gift from the Kingdom of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples, and that it was...
(PDO), in south Italy - Tomaten von der Insel Reichenau (PGI), from Reichenau IslandReichenau IslandReichenau Island lies in Lake Constance in southern Germany, at approximately . It lies between Gnadensee and Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance, almost due west of the city of Konstanz. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway that was completed in 1838...
, Germany
Varieties
There are around 7500 tomato varieties grown for various purposes. Heirloom tomatoHeirloom tomato
An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated heirloom cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years...
es are becoming increasingly popular, particularly among home gardeners and organic producers, since they tend to produce more interesting and flavorful crops at the cost of disease resistance and productivity.
Hybrid plants remain common, since they tend to be heavier producers, and sometimes combine unusual characteristics of heirloom tomatoes with the ruggedness of conventional commercial tomatoes.
- "Slicing" or "globe" tomatoes are the usual tomatoes of commerce, used for a wide variety of processing and fresh eating.
- Beefsteak tomatoes are large tomatoes often used for sandwiches and similar applications. Their kidney-bean shape, thinner skin, and shorter shelf life makes commercial use impractical.
- Oxheart tomatoes can range in size up to beefsteaks, and are shaped like large strawberries.
- Plum tomatoPlum tomatoA plum tomato, also known as a processing tomato or paste tomato, is a type of tomato bred for sauce and packing purposes. They are generally oval or cylindrical in shape, with significantly fewer seed compartments than standard round tomatoes and a generally higher solid content, making them more...
es, or paste tomatoes (including pear tomatoes), are bred with a higher solids content for use in tomato sauceTomato sauceA tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
and pasteTomato pasteTomato paste is a thick paste that is made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce moisture, straining them to remove the seeds and skin, and cooking them again to reduce them to a thick, rich concentrate...
, and are usually oblong. - Pear tomatoes are obviously pear-shaped, and are based upon the San MarzanoSan Marzano tomatoSan Marzano tomatoes, a variety of plum tomatoes, are considered by many chefs to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world.-History:The story goes that the first seed of the San Marzano tomato came to Campania in 1770, as a gift from the Kingdom of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples, and that it was...
types for a richer gourmet paste. - Cherry tomatoCherry tomatoA cherry tomato is a small variety of tomato that has been cultivated since at least the early 1800s and thought to have originated in Peru and Northern Chile. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from being spherical to slightly oblong in shape...
es are small and round, often sweet tomatoes generally eaten whole in salads. - Grape tomatoGrape tomatoA grape tomato is a class of tomatoes believed to be of southeast Asian origin, shaped similarly to the oval plum tomatoes but having the small size and sweetness of cherry tomatoes. Grape tomatoes produce small and typically oblong fruits...
es, a more recent introduction, are smaller and oblong, a variation on plum tomatoes, and used in salads. - Campari tomatoCampari tomatoCampari is a variety of tomato, noted for its juiciness, high sugar level, low acidity, and lack of mealiness. Camparis are deep red and larger than a cherry tomato, but smaller and rounder than a plum tomato.-Characteristics:...
es are also sweet and noted for their juiciness, low acidity, and lack of mealiness. They are bigger than cherry tomatoes, but are smaller than plum tomatoes.
Early tomatoes and cool-summer tomatoes bear fruit even where nights are cool, which usually discourages fruit set. There are also varieties high in beta carotenes and vitamin A, hollow tomatoes and tomatoes which keep for months in storage.
Tomatoes are also commonly classified as determinate
Determinate cultivar
Tomato cultivars are commonly classified as determinate or indeterminate.Determinate, or bush, types bear a full crop all at once and top off at a specific height; they are often good choices for container growing. Determinate types are preferred by commercial growers who wish to harvest a whole...
or indeterminate
Indeterminate growth
In biology and especially botany, indeterminate growth refers to growth that is not terminated in contrast to determinate growth that stops once a genetically pre-determined structure has completely formed. Thus, a plant that grows and produces flowers and fruit until killed by frost or some other...
. Determinate, or bush, types bear a full crop all at once and top off at a specific height; they are often good choices for container growing. Determinate types are preferred by commercial growers who wish to harvest a whole field at one time, or home growers interested in canning. Indeterminate varieties develop into vines that never top off and continue producing until killed by frost. They are preferred by home growers and local-market farmers who want ripe fruit throughout the season. As an intermediate form, there are plants sometimes known as vigorous determinate or semideterminate; these top off like determinates, but produce a second crop after the initial crop. The majority of heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate, although some determinate heirlooms exist.
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
cultivars. While virtually all commercial tomato varieties are red, some cultivars – especially heirlooms – produce fruit in other colors, including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, ivory, white, and purple. Such fruit are not widely available in grocery stores, nor are their seedlings available in typical nurseries, but they can be bought as seed. Less common variations include fruit with stripes (Green Zebra), fuzzy skin on the fruit (Fuzzy Peach, Red Boar), multiple colors (Hillbilly
Hillbilly (tomato)
The Hillbilly cultivar is one of dozens of large fruited yellow tomatoes with red swirls, having a mild, sweet flavor. Big Rainbow,is another....
, Burracker's Favorite, Lucky Cross), etc.
There is also a considerable gap between commercial and home-gardener cultivars; home cultivars are often bred for flavor to the exclusion of all other qualities, while commercial cultivars are bred for such factors as consistent size and shape, disease and pest resistance, suitability for mechanized picking and shipping, and ability to be picked before fully ripening.
Tomatoes grow well with seven hours of sunlight a day. A fertilizer with an NPK ratio
NPK rating
NPK rating is used to label fertilizer based on the relative content of the chemicals nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that are commonly used in fertilizers....
of 5-10-10 is often sold as tomato fertilizer or vegetable fertilizer, although manure and compost are also used.
Diseases and pests
Tomato cultivars vary widely in their resistance to disease. Modern hybrids focus on improving disease resistance over the heirloom plantHeirloom plant
An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, or heirloom vegetable is a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture...
s. One common tomato disease is tobacco mosaic virus
Tobacco mosaic virus
Tobacco mosaic virus is a positive-sense single stranded RNA virus that infects plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteristic patterns on the leaves . TMV was the first virus to be discovered...
, so smoking or use of tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
products are discouraged around tomatoes, although there is some scientific debate over whether the virus could possibly survive being burned and converted into smoke. Various forms of mildew
Mildew
Mildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
and blight
Blight
Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. It is simply a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this...
are also common tomato afflictions, which is why tomato cultivars are often marked with a combination of letters which refer to specific disease resistance. The most common letters are: V – verticillium
Verticillium
Verticillium is a genus of fungi in the division Ascomycota, and are an anamorphic form of the Plectosphaerellaceae family. The genus used to include diverse groups comprising saprobes and parasites of higher plants, insects, nematodes, mollusc eggs and other fungi thus it can be seen that the...
wilt
Wilting
Wilting refers to the loss of rigidity of non-woody parts of plants. This occurs when the turgor pressure in non-lignified plant cells falls towards zero, as a result of diminished water in the cells...
, F – fusarium
Fusarium
Fusarium is a large genus of filamentous fungi widely distributed in soil and in association with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the soil microbial community. Some species produce mycotoxins in cereal crops that can affect human and animal health...
wilt
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
strain I, FF – fusarium wilt strain I and II, N – nematode
Nematode
The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
s, T – tobacco mosaic virus
Tobacco mosaic virus
Tobacco mosaic virus is a positive-sense single stranded RNA virus that infects plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteristic patterns on the leaves . TMV was the first virus to be discovered...
, and A – alternaria
Alternaria
Alternaria is a genus of ascomycete fungi. Alternaria species are known as major plant pathogens. They are also common allergens in humans, growing indoors and causing hay fever or hypersensitivity reactions that sometimes lead to asthma...
.
Curly top
Curly top is a disease, first noted in the United States in 1898, which strikes various types of plants, including tomato, chili pepper, eggplant, potatoes, and others, causing them to stop growing or producing fruit, often eventually dying...
, carried by the beet leafhopper
Beet leafhopper
The beet leafhopper is a species of leafhopper with a longer, thinner build than most. It is found across much of the United States and Mexico, in South Africa and from the countries around the Mediterranean Sea to Central Asia ....
, which interrupts the lifecycle, ruining a nightshade plant as a crop. As the name implies, it has the symptom of making the top leaves of the plant wrinkle up and grow abnormally.
Some common tomato pests are stink bugs, cutworm
Cutworm
Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars; they are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants...
s, tomato hornworm
Tomato hornworm
The Five-Spotted Hawkmoth is a brown and gray hawk moth of the Sphingidae family. The caterpillar is often referred to as the tomato hornworm and can be a major pest in gardens. Tomato hornworms are closely related to the tobacco hornworm...
s and tobacco hornworm
Tobacco hornworm
Manduca sexta is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the American continent. Commonly known as the tobacco hornworm, it is closely related to and often confused with the very similar tomato hornworm ; the larvae of both feed on the foliage of various plants from the family...
s, aphid
Aphid
Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions...
s, cabbage looper
Cabbage looper
The Cabbage Looper is a member of the moth family Noctuidae. It is found throughout the southern Palaearctic ecozone, all of North America, parts of Africa and most of the Oriental and Indo-Australian region....
s, whiteflies
Whitefly
The whiteflies, comprising only the family Aleyrodidae, are small hemipterans. More than 1550 species have been described. Whiteflies typically feed on the underside of plant leaves.-Agricultural threat:...
, tomato fruitworms, flea beetle
Flea beetle
Flea beetles is a general name applied to the small, jumping beetles of the leaf beetle family . They make up the tribe Alticini, which is a part of the subfamily Galerucinae, though they were historically classified as a subfamily in their own right...
s, red spider mite, slug
Slug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
s, and Colorado potato beetle
Colorado potato beetle
The Colorado potato beetle , also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle or the potato bug, is an important pest of potato crops. It is approximately 10 mm long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each...
s.
When insects attack tomato plants, they produce the plant peptide hormone, systemin
Systemin
Systemin is a plant peptide hormone involved in the wound response in the Solanaceae plant family, it was the first plant hormone that was proven to be a peptide. It was discovered in tomato leaves in 1991, since then other peptides, with similar functions have been identified in tomato and outside...
, which activates defensive mechanisms, such as the production of protease inhibitors
Protease inhibitor (biology)
In biology and biochemistry, protease inhibitors are molecules that inhibit the function of proteases. Many naturally occurring protease inhibitors are proteins....
to slow the growth of insects. The hormone was first identified in tomatoes, but similar proteins have been identified in other species since.
Companion plants
Tomatoes serve, or are served by, a large variety of companion plants.In fact, one of the most famous pairings is the tomato plant and carrots, studies supporting this relationship having produced a popular book about companion planting, Carrots Love Tomatoes.
Additionally, the devastating tomato hornworm has a major predator in various parasitic wasp
Parasitic wasp
The term parasitoid wasp refers to a large evolutionary grade of hymenopteran superfamilies, mainly in the Apocrita. They are primarily parasitoids of other animals, mostly other arthropods...
s, whose larvae devour the hornworm, but whose adult form drinks nectar from tiny-flowered plants like umbellifers. Several species of umbellifer are therefore often grown with tomato plants, including parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
, queen anne's lace
Queen Anne's lace
Queen Anne's lace may refer to the following plants:* Ammi majus* Daucus carota* Anthriscus sylvestris...
, and occasionally dill
Dill
Dill is a perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens C.B.Clarke.-Growth:...
. These also attract predatory flies that attack various tomato pestshttp://www.tomatocasual.com/2008/05/06/boost-your-tomatoes-with-companion-planting-part-1/.
On the other hand, borage
Borage
Borage, , also known as a starflower, is an annual herb originating in Syria, but naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, and South America. It grows to a height of , and is bristly or hairy all over the stems and leaves; the leaves are...
is thought to actually repel the tomato hornworm
Tomato hornworm
The Five-Spotted Hawkmoth is a brown and gray hawk moth of the Sphingidae family. The caterpillar is often referred to as the tomato hornworm and can be a major pest in gardens. Tomato hornworms are closely related to the tobacco hornworm...
mothhttp://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/qt/Companion-Planting-Idea-Plant-Tomatoes-Borage-And-Squash-Together.htm.
Other plants with strong scents, like alliums (onions, chives
Chives
Chives are the smallest species of the edible onions. A perennial plant, they are native to Europe, Asia and North America.. Allium schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World....
, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
) and mints (basil
Basil
Basil, or Sweet Basil, is a common name for the culinary herb Ocimum basilicum , of the family Lamiaceae , sometimes known as Saint Joseph's Wort in some English-speaking countries....
, oregano
Oregano
Oregano – scientifically named Origanum vulgare by Carolus Linnaeus – is a common species of Origanum, a genus of the mint family . It is native to warm-temperate western and southwestern Eurasia and the Mediterranean region.Oregano is a perennial herb, growing from 20–80 cm tall,...
, spearmint
Spearmint
Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...
are simply thought to mask the scent of the tomato plant, making it harder for pests to locate it, or to provide an alternative landing point, reducing the odds of the pests from attacking the correct planthttp://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html. These plants may also subtly impact the flavor of tomato fruithttp://www.homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm.
Ground cover plants, including mints, also stabilize moisture loss around tomato plants and other solaneae, which come from very humid climates, and therefore may prevent moisture-related problems like blossom end rot.
Finally, tap-root plants like dandelions break up dense soil and bring nutrients from down below a tomato plant's reach, possibly benefiting their companion.
Tomato plants, on the other hand, protect asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
from asparagus beetle
Asparagus beetle
Crioceris or asparagus beetle is a genus of the family Chrysomelidae of beetles. The name is neo Latin from Greek κριός, ram and κέρας, horn.-Species:*Crioceris asparagi , common asparagus beetle...
s, because they contain solanum that kills this pest, while asparagus plants (as well as marigold
Tagetes
Tagetes is a genus of 56 species of annual and perennial mostly herbaceous plants in the sunflower family . The genus is native to North and South America, but some species have become naturalized around the world. One species, T...
shttp://www.homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm) contain a chemical that repels root nematodes known to attack tomato plants.
Pollination
Pollination
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
; they were much more self-incompatible
Self-incompatibility in plants
Self-incompatibility is a general name for several genetic mechanisms in angiosperms, which prevent self-fertilization and thus encourage outcrossing...
than domestic cultivars. As a floral device to reduce selfing, the pistil of wild tomatoes extends farther out of the flower than today's cultivars. The stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s were, and remain, entirely within the closed corolla
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
.
As tomatoes were moved from their native areas, their traditional pollinator
Pollinator
A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...
s, (probably a species of halictid
Halictidae
Halictidae is a cosmopolitan family of the order Hymenoptera consisting of small to midsize bees which are usually dark-colored and often metallic in appearance...
bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
) did not move with them. The trait of self-fertility became an advantage, and domestic cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s of tomato have been selected to maximize this trait.
This is not the same as self-pollination
Self-pollination
Self-pollination is a form of pollination that can occur when a flower has both stamen and a carpel in which the cultivar or species is self fertile and the stamens and the sticky stigma of the carpel contact each other in order to accomplish pollination...
, despite the common claim that tomatoes do so. That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebee
Bumblebee
A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...
s. The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of outside motion. The best source of outside motion is a sonicating
Buzz pollination
Sonication or buzz pollination is a technique used by some bees to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers, which makes pollination more efficient. The anther of buzz-pollinated species of plants is typically tubular, with an opening at only one end, and the pollen is inside...
bee, such as a bumblebee, or the original wild halictid pollinator. In an outside setting, wind or animals provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.
Hydroponic and greenhouse cultivation
Tomatoes are often grown in greenhouseGreenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s in cooler climates, and there are cultivars such as the British 'Moneymaker' and a number of cultivars grown in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
that are specifically bred for indoor growing. In more temperate climates, it is not uncommon to start seeds in greenhouses during the late winter for future transplant.
Hydroponic tomatoes are also available, and the technique is often used in hostile growing environments, as well as high-density plantings.
Picking and ripening
Ethylene
Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...
. Unripe tomatoes are firm. As they ripen they soften until reaching the ripe state where they are red or orange in color and slightly soft to the touch. Ethylene is a hydrocarbon gas produced by many fruits that acts as the molecular cue to begin the ripening process. Tomatoes ripened in this way tend to keep longer, but have poorer flavor and a mealier, starchier texture than tomatoes ripened on the plant. They may be recognized by their color, which is more pink or orange than the other ripe tomatoes' deep red, depending on variety.
A machine-harvestable variety of tomato (the "square tomato") was developed in the 1950s by University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
's Gordie C. Hanna
Gordie C. Hanna
Gordie C. Hanna was a University of California-Davis agronomy professor who helped revolutionize the tomato-growing industry. He won the John Scott Award in 1976 for his development of a tomato variety capable of being machine-harvested...
, which, in combination with the development of a suitable harvester, revolutionized the tomato-growing industry. In 1994, Calgene introduced a genetically modified tomato called the 'FlavrSavr
FlavrSavr
Flavr Savr , a genetically modified tomato, was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was produced by the Californian company Calgene, and submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1992...
', which could be vine ripened without compromising shelf life
Shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that food, drink, medicine, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption...
. However, the product was not commercially successful, and was only sold until 1997.
Recently, stores have begun selling "tomatoes on the vine", which are determinate varieties that are ripened or harvested with the fruits still connected to a piece of vine. These tend to have more flavor than artificially ripened tomatoes (at a price premium).
Slow-ripening cultivars of tomato have been developed by crossing a nonripening cultivar with ordinary cultivars. Cultivars were selected whose fruits have a long shelf life and at least reasonable flavor.
At home, fully ripe tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator
Refrigerator
A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...
, but are best kept at room temperature
Room temperature
-Comfort levels:The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers has listings for suggested temperatures and air flow rates in different types of buildings and different environmental circumstances. For example, a single office in a building has an occupancy ratio per...
. Tomatoes stored cold will still be edible, but tend to lose flavor; thus, "Never Refrigerate" stickers are sometimes placed on tomatoes in supermarkets.
Genetic modification
Tomatoes that have been modified using genetic engineeringGenetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
have been developed, and although none are commercially
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
available now, they have been in the past. The first commercially available genetically modified food
Genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms . Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques...
was a variety of tomato named (the Flavr Savr), which was engineered to have a longer shelf life. Scientists are continuing to develop tomatoes with new traits not found in natural crops, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses. Other projects aim to enrich tomatoes with substances that may offer health benefits or provide better nutrition.
Consumption
Salad
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
s, and processed into ketchup
Ketchup
Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
or tomato soup
Tomato soup
Tomato soup is a soup made from tomatoes. It may be served hot or cold, and can be made in many styles. It may be smooth in texture, but there are recipes which include chunks of tomato, cream and/or chicken stock. Popular toppings for tomato soup include sour cream, and croutons. Tomato soup is...
. Unripe green tomatoes can also be breaded and fried
Fried green tomatoes (food)
Fried green tomatoes are a side dish usually found in the Southern United States, made from unripe tomatoes coated with cornmeal and fried.-Traditional preparation:...
, used to make salsa
Salsa (sauce)
Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...
, or pickled. Tomato juice
Tomato juice
Tomato juice is a juice made from tomatoes. It is usually used as a beverage, either plain or in cocktails such as a Bloody Mary or Michelada.-History:...
is sold as a drink
Drink
A drink, or beverage, is a liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. In addition to fulfilling a basic human need, beverages form part of the culture of human society.-Water:...
, and is used in cocktails such as the Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary (cocktail)
A Bloody Mary is a popular cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and usually other spices or flavorings such as Worcestershire sauce, Peri-Peri Sauce, Tabasco sauce, beef consomme or bouillon, horseradish, celery, olive, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and celery salt...
.
Tomatoes are acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
ic, making them especially easy to preserve in home canning
Canning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...
whole, in pieces, as tomato sauce
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
or paste
Tomato paste
Tomato paste is a thick paste that is made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce moisture, straining them to remove the seeds and skin, and cooking them again to reduce them to a thick, rich concentrate...
. The fruit is also preserved by drying, often in the sun, and sold either in bags or in jars with oil.
Tomatoes are used extensively in Mediterranean cuisine, especially Italian
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
and Middle Eastern
Middle Eastern cuisine
Middle-Eastern cuisine, West Asian cuisine, or in some place in the United States, Persian-Mediterranean cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of the Middle East . The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity...
cuisines. They are a key ingredient in pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
, and are commonly used in pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
sauces. They are also used in gazpacho
Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold Spanish/Portuguese tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in the southern region of Andalucía. Gazpacho is widely consumed throughout Spain, neighboring Portugal and parts of Latin America...
(Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine consists of a variety of dishes, which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep maritime roots...
) and pa amb tomàquet
Pa amb tomaquet
Pa amb tomàquet or pa amb oli is a simple and typical recipe in Catalonia, Majorca, the Land of Valencia and in some other places that were at some point under the domain of the Crown of Aragon, such as Italy and Malta.Pa amb tomàquet or pa amb oli consists of bread — optionally toasted — with...
(Catalan cuisine
Catalan cuisine
Catalan cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine from Catalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of Roussillon and Andorra, which has a similar cuisine to the Alt Urgell and Cerdanya comarques, often referred to as "Catalan mountain cuisine"...
).
Though it is botanically a berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, a subset of fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, the tomato is a vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
for culinary purposes, because of its savory flavor (see below).
Nutrition
Tomatoes are now eaten freely throughout the world, and their consumption is believed to benefit the heart, among other organs. They contain the carotene lycopeneLycopene
Lycopene is a bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons and papayas...
, one of the most powerful natural antioxidant
Antioxidant
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...
s. In some studies, lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, but other research contradicts this claim. Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin's ability to protect against harmful UV rays. Natural genetic variation in tomatoes and their wild relatives has given a genetic plethora of genes that produce lycopene, carotene, anthocyanin, and other antioxidants. Tomato varieties are available with double the normal vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
(Doublerich), 40 times normal vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
(97L97), high levels of anthocyanin
Anthocyanin
Anthocyanins are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to pH...
(resulting in blue tomatoes
Blue tomatoes
Blue tomatoes are tomatoes that have been selectively bred to produce high levels of anthocyanin, a pigment responsible for the blue and purple color of several fruits...
), and two to four times the normal amount of lycopene (numerous available cultivars with the high crimson gene).
Medicinal properties
Lycopene has also been shown to protect against oxidative damage in many epidemiological and experimental studies. In addition to its antioxidant activity, other metabolic effects of lycopene have also been demonstrated. The richest source of lycopene in the diet is tomato and tomato derived products.Tomato consumption has been associated with decreased risk of breast cancer, head and neck cancers and might be strongly protective against neurodegenerative diseases. Tomatoes and tomato sauces and puree are said to help lower urinary tract symptoms
Lower urinary tract symptoms
Lower urinary tract symptoms are a common problem affecting approximately 40% of older men. LUTS is a recent term for what used to be known as prostatism.-Voiding or obstructive symptoms:*Poor stream*Hesitancy*Terminal dribbling...
(BPH
Benign prostatic hyperplasia
Benign prostatic hyperplasia also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy , benign enlargement of the prostate , and adenofibromyomatous hyperplasia, refers to the increase in size of the prostate....
) and may have anticancer properties.
Tomato consumption might be beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk associated with type 2 diabetes.
Storage
Tomatoes that are not yet ripe are optimally stored at room temperature uncovered, out of direct sunlight, until ripe. In this environment, they have a shelf life of three to four days. When ripe, they should be used in one to two days. Tomatoes should only be refrigerated when well ripened, but this will affect flavor.Plant toxicity
Like many other nightshades, tomato leaves and stems contain atropineAtropine
Atropine is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , Jimson weed , mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects...
and other tropane alkaloids that are toxic if ingested. Ripened fruit does not contain these compounds. Leaves, stems, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the poisonous alkaloid tomatine
Tomatine
Tomatine is a toxic glycoalkaloid found in the stems and leaves of tomato plants, which has fungicidal properties. Chemically pure tomatine is a white crystalline solid at standard temperature and pressure...
.
Use of tomato leaves in tea (tisane
Tisane
A herbal tea, tisane, or ptisan is a herbal or plant infusion and usually not made from the leaves of the tea bush . Typically, herbal tea is simply the combination of boiling water and dried fruits, flowers or herbs. Herbal tea has been imbibed for nearly as long as written history extends...
) has been responsible for at least one death. However, levels of tomatine are generally too small to be dangerous.
Tomato plants can be toxic to dogs if they eat large amounts of the fruit, or chew plant material.
Salmonella
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC) announced tomatoes might have been the source of a salmonellosis
Salmonellosis
Salmonellosis is an infection with Salmonella bacteria. Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. In most cases, the illness lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment...
outbreak causing 172 illnesses in 18 states. Tomatoes have been linked to seven salmonella outbreaks since 1990.
The 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak
2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak
The 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak began in the spring of 2008 when hundreds of people throughout the United States fell ill after consuming contaminated food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently believes that the contaminated food products responsible are fresh jalapeño and...
caused the removal of tomatoes from stores and restaurants across the United States and parts of Canada, although other foods, including jalapeño
Jalapeño
The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper that has a warm, burning sensation when eaten. A mature jalapeño fruit is 2–3½ inches long and is commonly picked and consumed while still green, but occasionally it is allowed to fully ripen and turn crimson red...
and serrano
Serrano pepper
The serrano pepper is a type of chili pepper that originated in the mountainous regions of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo. The name of the pepper is a reference to the mountains of these regions....
peppers, may have been involved.
Botanical description
Tomato plants are vines, initially decumbent, typically growing six feet or more above the ground if supported, although erect bush varieties have been bred, generally three feet tall or shorter. Indeterminate types are "tender" perennials, dying annually in temperate climates (they are originally native to tropical highlands), although they can live up to three years in a greenhouse in some cases. Determinate types are annual in all climates.Tomato plants are dicots, and grow as a series of branching stems, with a terminal bud at the tip that does the actual growing. When that tip eventually stops growing, whether because of pruning or flowering, lateral buds take over and grow into other, fully functional, vines.
Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs. These hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original root has been damaged or severed.
Most tomato plants have compound leaves, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants, but some cultivars have simple leaves known as potato leaf
Potato leaf
Potato leaf, or PL, is one of two major types of leaves which tomato plants exhibit. The other type is referred to as "regular leaf," or RL. Simply stated, potato leaf tomato plants have a smooth leaf edge when compared with the serrated edge of the regular leaf. The shape is oval and may feature...
(PL) style because of their resemblance to that close cousin. Of RL plants, there are variations, such as rugose leaves, which are deeply grooved, and variegated, angora leaves, which have additional colors where a genetic mutation causes chlorophyll
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...
to be excluded from some portions of the leaves.
The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 in) long, odd pinnate, with five to 9 leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 centimetres (3 in) long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy.
Their flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s, appearing on the apical meristem
Meristem
A meristem is the tissue in most plants consisting of undifferentiated cells , found in zones of the plant where growth can take place....
, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style. Flowers in domestic cultivars tend to be self-fertilizing. The flowers are 1–2 cm (0.393700787401575–0.78740157480315 in) across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together.
Tomato fruit is classified as a berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
. As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls. The fruit contains hollow spaces full of seeds and moisture, called locular cavities. These vary, among cultivated species, according to type. Some smaller varieties have two cavities, globe-shaped varieties typically have three to five, beefsteak tomatoes have a great number of smaller cavities, while paste tomatoes have very few, very small cavities.
For propagation, the seeds need to come from a mature fruit, and be dried or fermented before germination.
Botanical classification
In 1753, LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
placed the tomato in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Solanum
Solanum
Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers. Many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are...
(alongside the potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
) as Solanum lycopersicum. In 1768,though, Philip Miller
Philip Miller
Philip Miller FRS was a Scottish botanist.Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until he was pressured to retire shortly before his death...
moved it to its own genus, naming it Lycopersicon esculentum. This name came into wide use, but was in breach of the plant naming rules. Technically, the combination Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) H.Karst.
Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten
Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten was a German botanist and geologist. Born in Stralsund, he followed the example of Alexander von Humboldt and traveled 1844-56 to the north of South America. He died 1908 in Berlin-Grunewald....
would be more correct, but this name (published in 1881) has hardly ever been used (except in seed catalogs, which frequently used it and still do).
Genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
evidence has now shown that Linnaeus was correct to put the tomato in the genus Solanum, making Solanum lycopersicum the correct name. Both names, however, will probably be found in the literature for some time. Two of the major reasons some still consider the genera separate are the leaf structure (tomato leaves are markedly different from any other Solanum), and the biochemistry (many of the alkaloids common to other Solanum species are conspicuously absent in the tomato). Hybrids of tomato and diploid potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
can be created in the lab by somatic fusion
Somatic fusion
Somatic fusion, also called protoplast fusion, is a type of genetic modification in plants by which two distinct species of plants are fused together to form a new hybrid plant with the characteristics of both, a somatic hybrid. Hybrids have been produced either between the different varieties of...
, and are partially fertile, providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.
An international consortium of researchers from 10 countries, among them researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research is a research and education organization devoted to plant science currently located on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York...
, began sequencing the tomato genome
Genome
In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
in 2004, and is creating a database of genomic sequences and information on the tomato and related plants. A prerelease version of the genome was made available in December, 2009. The genomes of its mitochondria and chloroplast
Chloroplast
Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...
s are also being sequenced as part of the project.
Breeding
Active breeding programs are ongoing by individuals, universities, corporations, and organizations. The Tomato Genetic Resource Center, Germplasm Resources Information NetworkGermplasm Resources Information Network
Germplasm Resources Information Network or GRIN is an online software project of National Genetic Resources Program of USDA to provide germplasm information about plants, animals, microbes and invertebrates.-Sub-Projects:...
, AVRDC
World Vegetable Center
AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, previously known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, is an international, nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development...
, and numerous seed banks
Seedbank
A seedbank stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied...
around the world store seed representing genetic variations of value to modern agriculture. These seed stocks are available for legitimate breeding and research efforts. While individual breeding efforts can produce useful results, the bulk of tomato breeding work is at universities and major agriculture-related corporations. These efforts have resulted in significant regionally adapted breeding lines and hybrids, such as the Mountain series from North Carolina. Corporations including Heinz
H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company , commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J...
, Monsanto
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
, BHNSeed, Bejoseed, etc., have breeding programs that attempt to improve production, size, shape, color, flavor, disease tolerance, pest tolerance, nutritional value, and numerous other traits.
Fruit or vegetable?
Botanically, a tomato is a fruitFruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
: the ovary
Ovary (plants)
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...
, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
. However, the tomato has a much lower sugar content than other fruits, and is therefore not as sweet. Typically served as part of a salad or main course
Main course
A main dish is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée course, and the salad course. In North American usage it may in fact be called the "entree"....
of a meal, rather than at dessert
Dessert
In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...
, it is considered a vegetable for most culinary purposes. One exception is that tomatoes are treated as a fruit in home canning practices: they are acidic enough to be processed in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as "vegetables" require. Tomatoes are not the only foodstuff with this ambiguity: eggplants, cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s, and squashes
Squash (fruit)
Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita, also called marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker...
of all kinds (such as zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
and pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
s) are all botanically fruits, yet cooked as vegetables.
This argument has had legal implications in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
laws that imposed a duty
Duty (economics)
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...
on vegetables, but not on fruits, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
settled the controversy on May 10, 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
Nix v. Hedden
Nix v. Hedden, , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that affirmed the lower court ruling that the tomato should be classified under customs regulations as a vegetable rather than a fruit...
(149 U.S. 304)).
The holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883
Tariff of 1883
In United States tax law history, the Tariff of 1883 , also known as the Mongrel Tariff Act by its critics, reduced high tariff rates only marginally, and left in place fairly strong protectionist barriers....
, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes.
Tomatoes have been designated the state vegetable of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
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 culinary and botanical classifications. In 2009, the state of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
passed a law making the tomato the state's official fruit. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. A.W. Livingston, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area...
, played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 19th century; his efforts are commemorated in Reynoldsburg with an annual Tomato Festival.
Names
The scientific species epithet lycopersicum means "wolf peach", and comes from German werewolfWerewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
myths. These said that deadly nightshade was used to summon werewolves, so the tomato's similar, but much larger, fruit was called the "wolf peach" when it arrived in Europe.
The Aztecs called the fruit xitomatl (ʃiːˈtomatɬ), meaning plump thing with a navel. Other Mesoamerican peoples, including the Nahuas, took the name as tomatl, from which some European languages derived the name "tomato".
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of tomato differsAmerican and British English pronunciation differences
Differences in pronunciation between American English and British English can be divided into:* differences in accent...
in different English-speaking countries; the two most common variants are təˈmɑːtoʊ and təˈmeɪtoʊ . Speakers from the British Isles, most of the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, and speakers of Southern American English
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
typically say /təˈmɑːtoʊ/, while most North American
North American English
North American English is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages...
speakers usually say /təˈmeɪtoʊ/.
The word's dual pronunciations
Free variation
Free variation in linguistics is the phenomenon of two sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers...
were immortalized in Ira
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
and George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's 1937 song Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates...
("You like /pəˈteɪtoʊ/ and I like /pəˈtɑːtoʊ/ / You like /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and I like /təˈmɑːtoʊ/") and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has even become an American and British slang term: saying /təˈmeɪtoʊ, təˈmɑːtoʊ/ when presented with two choices can mean "What's the difference?" or "It's all the same to me."
Tomato records
Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 81,405, making it the sixth largest city in the state of Oklahoma....
in 1986. The largest tomato plant grown was of the cultivar 'Sungold' and reached 19.8 m (65 ft) in length, grown by Nutriculture Ltd (UK) of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK, in 2000.
The massive "tomato tree" growing inside the Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
's experimental greenhouses in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....
may be the largest single tomato plant in the world. The plant has been recognized as a Guinness World Record Holder, with a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and a total weight of 522 kg (1,150.8 lb). It yields thousands of tomatoes at one time from a single vine. Yong Huang, Epcot
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
's manager of agricultural science, discovered the unique plant in Beijing, China. Huang brought its seeds to Epcot and created the specialized greenhouse for the fruit to grow. The vine grows golf ball-sized tomatoes which are served at Walt Disney World restaurants.
Unfortunately, the world record-setting tomato tree can no longer be seen by guests along the Living With the Land
Living with the Land
Living with the Land is a ride located within The Land pavilion which is part of Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World Resort at Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It is a slow-moving boat ride, which is part dark ride and part greenhouse tour...
boat ride at Epcot, as the tree developed a disease and was removed in April 2010 after approximately 13 months of life.
On August 30, 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered in Buñol
Buñol
Buñol is a town and municipality in the province of Valencia, Spain. The municipality has an area of some 112 km², and is situated approximately 38 km west of the provincial and autonomous community capital city, Valencia...
to throw 115000 kilograms (253,531.6 lb) of tomatoes at each other in the yearly Tomatina
Tomatina
La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun...
festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
.
Cultural impact
The town of BuñolBuñol
Buñol is a town and municipality in the province of Valencia, Spain. The municipality has an area of some 112 km², and is situated approximately 38 km west of the provincial and autonomous community capital city, Valencia...
, Spain, annually celebrates La Tomatina
Tomatina
La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun...
, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight. Tomatoes are also a popular "nonlethal" throwing weapon in mass protests, and there was a common tradition of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad performers on a stage during the 19th century; today this is usually referenced as a mere metaphor. Embracing it for this protest connotation, the Dutch Socialist party
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...
adopted the tomato as their logo.
The US city of Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area...
calls itself "The Birthplace of the Tomato", claiming the first commercial variety of tomato was bred there in the 19th century.
Several US states have adopted the tomato as a state fruit or vegetable (see above).
See also
- Flavr Savr
- List of heirloom tomato cultivars
- List of tomato cultivars
- MarglobeMarglobe (tomato)The Marglobe tomato was developed in 1917 by Frederick J. Pritchard of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Experiment Station by crossing the Globe and Marvel tomatoes...
- Ring cultureRing cultureRing culture is a method of cultivating tomato plants. Tomato plants are grown in a bottomless pot, a "ring", and the pot is partially submerged in a tray of water. Ring culture forces the plants to develop two root systems: one which will absorb the nutrients contained in the soil and another...
- TomatilloTomatilloThe tomatillo is a plant of the nightshade family, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos are a staple in Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are grown as annuals throughout the Western Hemisphere...
- TomberryTomberryTomberry is a trademarked name for an unusually small cultivar of tomatoes produced by the Netherlands company Eminent Food BV and distributed in the United Kingdom and continental Europe. The Tomberry is about 0.5 to 1 cm in diameter with an average fruit weight of 1 to 2 grams.-External links:*...
Further reading
- David Gentilcore. Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy (Columbia University Press, 2010), scholarly history
External links
- Tomato Pests (NCSU)North Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
– Overview of the entomological threats to tomato cultivation. - Tomato Genome Sequencing Project – Sequencing of the twelve tomato chromosomes.
- Solanum lycopersicum L. on Solanaceae Source – Images, specimens and a full list of scientific synonyms previously used to refer to the tomato.
- Tomato core collection database – Phenotypes and images of 7,000 tomato cultivars
- The On-line Tomato Vine (Keith Mueller) – Comprehensive and practical information on growing and breeding tomatoes.
- The case against heirloom tomatoes at Scientific American
- Red menace: How the ‘strange and horrible’ tomato conquered Italy, and America at The Boston Globe
- Tomato from seeds: A complete start to finish guide written by James Cairns
- Paul Lunde, New World Foods, Old World Diet, 1992, Saudi Aramco World