Field of Science

Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

For the jillionth time, the tomato is a fruit. That this question went to the Supreme Court is totally silly, but then to add that the justices had to consult a DICTIONARY, well, that's just insulting! You consult your friendly neighborhood botanist to answer such questions.  That's what we're here for. Typical though that SCOTUS justices didn't know enough to know who to consult. Very simply they should have just contacted a botanist, someone like John Kress (the Indiana Jones of ginger) at the Smithsonian, and gotten an authoritative answer in 5 sec or so, if he was in the country. So the next time you get your tomato jam out (often called ketchup), remember the tomato is a fruit.

2 comments:

Bend said...

Yes. But since "vegetable" is principally a culinary term, there's no reason that a tomato can't be both a fruit and a vegetable. And why is the controversy all about tomatoes and not about cucumbers, zucchinis, eggplants and bell peppers as well?

Anonymous said...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Botanical_Fruit_and_Culinary_Vegetables.png