Fun Facts:
Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio.
Arkansas official state vegetable is the vine pink tomato.
One tomato plant can produce 15 tomatoes per season.
Tomatoes contain Lycopene which protects against cancer.
Never store tomatoes in the refrigerator! It decreases the
nutritional value and they will also lose their flavor. For best
results, store tomatoes above 55°F.
Nutritional Information:
Red tomatoes raw per 100 g
Carbohydrates 4 g
Sugars 2.6 g
Dietary fiber 1 g
Fat 0.2 g
Protein 1 g
Water 95 g
Vitamin C 13 mg
Energy 20 kcal
80 kJ
United States tariff laws imposed a duty on vegetables but not on any fruits. Tomatoes have always been a controversial topic. As part of the flowering plants, it is recognized as the ovary with seeds, therefore making it a fruit. But tomatoes are not as sweet as other fruits, and from a culinary view, it is used in salads or part of the main course. This argument went straight to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on May 10, 1893 the tomato was declared as a vegetable, based on popular definition when dealing with tariffs. Due to scientific definition, the tomato remains a fruit as long as it is not being dealt with due to tariff laws. Other vegetables which also fall under this category are squashes, eggplants, cucumbers and others. 8,12
More Facts:
Each American, on average, consumes 80 pounds of tomatoes a year!
California produces almost half of the world's tomatoes, which makes it the largest grower of tomatoes in the world.
American cookbooks in the 19th century warned that tomatoes should be cooked for a minimum of three hours before consuming in order to eliminate the raw taste, and within the cookbook, people were cautioned not to eat tomatoes raw because they were suspected to be poisonous.
There’s a lot of cool and interesting facts about tomatoes out there. If you you want to learn more, check out my reference page. And if you want to know a little about me, or see what others think of tomatoes, check out my
Site designed by Chloe Scheel, Last updated April 2009.
