Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?

[blindside]

People that say tomatoes are fruit are the same kind of people that say the 21st century began in 2001, not 2000. Technically they are correct, but the rest of the human population couldn't care less.

That pretty much sums up my opinion on it. Technically it may be a fruit but as far as I care, it's used and eaten as a vegatable.

 

[BassDude726]

Fruit doesn't have to grow on trees.

 

[Noldodan]

If they don't grow on trees, their not fruits, right? So, assuming my sarcasm detector isn't being ironic, since tomatoes don't grow on trees, they're not fruit, right?

By your reasoning, berries are not fruits either.

 

[phoenix_night]

If they don't grow on trees, their not fruits, right? So, assuming my sarcasm detector isn't being ironic, since tomatoes don't grow on trees, they're not fruit, right?

Wrong.

I don't believe what was said in the first post...there isn't actually any debate about it. It's a fruit. It's as simple as that.

 

[BassDude726]

Okay then, let's debate this: Is it pronounce tomAto, or tomAHto?

 

[Mise]

Well, there's no 'r' in tomato, so, even though I say tomAHto, I think it should be tomAYto. Maybe it should be tométo or something?

 

[nonconformist]

By your reasoning, berries are not fruits either.

Berries aren't fruit, they're.....berries! Technically a berry is like a fruit, but with seeds on the outside.

 

[Garbarsardar.jr]

Botanically speaking, the tomato you eat is a fruit. So is a watermelon, green pepper, eggplant, cucumber, and squash. A "fruit" is any fleshy material covering a seed or seeds.

Horticulturally speaking, the tomato is a vegetable plant. The plant is an annual and nonwoody. Most fruits, from a horticulture perspective, are grown on a woody plant (apples, cherries, raspberries, oranges) with the exception of strawberries.

In 1893, the United States Supreme Court ruled the tomato was a "vegetable" and therefore subject to import taxes. The suit was brought by a consortium of growers who wanted it declared a vegetable to protect U.S. crop development and prices. Fruits, at that time, were not subjected to import taxes and foreign countries could flood the market with lower priced produce. (A hundred and twenty years really hasn't changed anything.)


As I said in another thread the Supreme Court rules!


and from wikipedia:

On the matter of whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, the discrepancy between botany's designation (it's a fruit) and popular opinion (it's a vegetable) has caused some amusing results. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws which 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 this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, along with cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas, using the popular definition which classifies vegetables in how they are used: they are generally served with dinner and not dessert

 

[BassDude726]

Wait a minute... are cherries fruits or berries? They look like berries, but the pit is on the inside, so it's a fruit, right?

 

[nonconformist]

Yeah, I think it is technically a fruit.

 

[Neomega]

Tomato is a fruit.

Fruits are the reproductive parts of plants, that contain the nutrients for the seeds within. Berries are fruits also.

Vegetables are the parts of plants required for the plant to grow and live. This includes the roots, (potatoes) and leaves (lettuce).

Their are three essentials to the definiton of life, it must intake, output, and reproduce. Fruit is the "reproduce" part of a plant life.

Under this definiton, cucumbers are a fruit, carrots a vegetable.

Salmonberries are fruit, artichokes are vegetable.

Nuts are the actual seeds themselves. Technically speaking an apple has "nuts" inside of it, that some people eat also, as do pumpkins.

That pretty much sums up my opinion on it. Technically it may be a fruit but as far as I care, it's used and eaten as a vegatable.

their are lots of people who eat tomatoes like an apple, especially if they are fresh off the vine.

 

[BassDude726]

I thought carrots were considered roots, like potatoes.

 

[Neomega]

I thought carrots were considered roots, like potatoes.

yes, and carrots are a vegetable. Their seeds are grown in the leaves, IIRC

 

[WillJ]

@Pointlessness: So to prove that a tomato is a fruit, you looked up "fruit" on dictionary.com, and found that it fits in with tomatoes. Gee, why didn't you just do this?

It of course all depends on your definitions of the words, and to me a tomato is both a vegetable and a fruit, since a fruit is a ripened ovary of a plant, and a vegetable is an edible part of a plant. But of course I generally regard fruits as fruits and not vegetables, so a tomato is "more" of a fruit than a vegetable.

...Not that I care that much.

 

[thestonesfan]

Berries aren't fruit, they're.....berries! Technically a berry is like a fruit, but with seeds on the outside.

No, berries are fruits and they do not have seeds on the outside. A berry is any fruit with the seeds in the flesh.

The strawberry is not a berry.

Tomatoes are fruits, scientifically speaking. In culinary everyday use, they would be treated as a vegetable.

 

[thestonesfan]

I thought carrots were considered roots, like potatoes.

Taters aren't roots - they are tubers.

 

[thestonesfan]

Wait a minute... are cherries fruits or berries? They look like berries, but the pit is on the inside, so it's a fruit, right?

They are fruits, but not berries. Their are in the same family as peaches and plums, the name of which escapes me.

 

[BassDude726]

If strawberries aren't berries, then what the hell are they?? Did this just turn into the most random thread or what?

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Fruit fruit fruit.

People that say tomatoes are fruit are the same kind of people that say the 21st century began in 2001, not 2000. Technically they are correct, but the rest of the human population couldn't care less.

Scientist: "For safety standard X on a building of height Y we need steel bars of thickness Z..."
He's technically correct and the rest of the human population couldn't care less. The does not make him wrong. I don't you'd want to be the first to call him wrong, especially if you have to demonstrate it by being in a "correct" building.

Technically correct != wrong.
Technically correct DOES NOT EQUAL wrong.

It's technically a fruit, so it's a fruit. Fruit fruit froot froot frwt. (last is P-Celtic but still pronounced the same way.)

 

[WickedSmurf]

It is a vegetable.

Edit: Damnit.