Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

By Lori Bongiorno

Technically speaking, a tomato is a fruit. That's because the scientific definition of a fruit doesn't take into account how sweet a natural plant product is or whether it's served for dinner or dessert.
A fruit is officially defined as "the fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds."
The simplest way to figure out if any plant product is a fruit or a veggie is to ask this question -- Does it have seeds inside? If so, it's a fruit. If not, it's a vegetable.
That makes the following items fruits, not veggies:

Tomato
Cucumber
Squash
Zucchini
Green bean
Pumpkin
Bell pepper
Avocado

What are vegetables? Everything else including roots (potatoes, carrots), bulbs (onions, garlic), leaves (lettuce, spinach), and flowers (broccoli, cauliflower).
Of course, it's not quite as simple as just following the botanical definition. Most of us think of tomatoes (and all the fruits listed above) as veggies because they we use them in salads and as part of meals. Fruits are generally considered sweet and are often used as part of dessert.
And it turns out the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with us, on tomatoes at least. In 1893, the court ruled that tomatoes are vegetables because of how they are used, as part of meals as opposed to as desserts.
No matter how you classify tomatoes, there's no doubt that they are a delicious part of any summer diet. Eating seasonal and local produce, instead of packaged food, is great for your health and the planet's.

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This page is just a compilation of information regarding healthy living, natural resources, exercise, healthy recipes, etc. Mainly just for the sake of having them at hand to look at when we want. So, we (Kelsey and Sara) decided to put it in blog form for any of you who would be interested in any of this information. The information we get will be from a variety of sources or things which have worked for us. I hope you can find something you need here.

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

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