Is tomato a vegetable or a fruit? Let’s start with a strange case…

In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a peculiar and far-reaching case. It was peculiar because the protagonist of the case was neither a vicious thief nor a notorious gangster, but a common food in life - tomato; and it was far-reaching because the U.S. Supreme Court finally solved a topic that is often discussed by legislation: Is tomato a vegetable or a fruit?

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The case itself is not complicated: the United States passed a new tariff system that year, imposing high tariffs on imported vegetables, while fruits were tax-free. Therefore, several merchants engaged in import and export trade reported taxes on tomatoes in the name of "fruits", but the tax collectors at the Port of New York insisted that tomatoes were "vegetables", and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

The merchants brought out the Webster Dictionary, because in English, the word "fruit" refers to both the fruit of a plant and edible fruit. The tomatoes we eat are the fruit of a plant, so the plaintiff believes that tomatoes should be labeled as fruits; while the defendant invited agricultural experts as witnesses, using peas, eggplants and peppers as examples to prove that vegetables can also be fruits of plants.

In the end, the court made its own ruling: based on the use of tomatoes and the views of the vast majority of people on them, tomatoes are defined as vegetables. This trial result, known as the "Nix v. Hedden case", has far-reaching influence, and it is still the basis for the taxation of agricultural products imported and exported by the United States to this day.

Although American judges have given their own standards, in fact, the debate over whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables has never stopped. In particular, there is a small and exquisite variety in the tomato family: they are only the size of cherries, taste more juicy and have a moderate sweetness and sourness. This small tomato is a cherry tomato, also known as a cherry tomato. We usually see it on the fruit shelves in the market, and we eat it directly by swallowing it. So what is the relationship between it and ordinary tomatoes? Is it also a vegetable?

The second question is actually easy to answer, because vegetables and fruits are not clearly defined. The judge's decision was based solely on economic considerations, and we can describe the properties of tomatoes as we like in our daily lives. Or we can think of tomatoes as "Schrödinger's vegetables": when you eat them raw, they are fruits; and when you make them into soups or dishes, they are vegetables.

So what is the relationship between cherry tomatoes and ordinary tomatoes? This question is a little complicated, and it starts with the "origin" of tomatoes.

Tomatoes originally grew in the Americas. The first people to grow and eat tomatoes were the Aztecs in Central and South America. They began to domesticate tomatoes around 500 BC. Wild tomatoes are very small, weighing only 1 to 2 grams. This type of tomato is called a gooseberry tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium). Compared to it, cherry tomatoes can be called "big".

During the long-term cultivation process, some mutants of currant tomatoes gradually appeared with larger sizes, which were the original cherry tomatoes. Later, when explorers brought tomatoes to Europe, they gradually domesticated larger tomatoes, which are the common tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) we see today. Therefore, cherry tomatoes are not a new variety that has appeared in recent years, but rather a "long-standing brand" in the tomato family.

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Of course, this process was not smooth sailing. For a long time, domesticated tomatoes and wild tomatoes were mixed together. Some domesticated tomato varieties were likely to return to the wild, grow naturally for many years, and then be rediscovered by humans and domesticated again. So we can imagine that the cherry tomatoes eaten by the Aztecs must have tasted significantly different from the ones we eat today.

The tomato's rough experience is far more than this. According to legend, when the Spanish colonists attacked the Aztec fortress in Mexico, the locals threw a red fruit at the Spaniards, which would burst and ooze out a sticky liquid once it hit them. This is naturally the tomato, and the English word "tomato" also comes from the Aztec language.

The tomatoes that had just arrived in Europe were not used as food, but as a strange ornamental plant. At that time, Europeans were spreading the rumor that tomatoes were "devil's fruit" and were highly poisonous, and they even gave them the title of "wolf peach". In fact, this cannot be entirely blamed on the ignorance of the Europeans at that time, because tomatoes are Solanaceae plants. In addition to the ripe fruits, other parts of the plant, including unripe green tomatoes, are rich in alkaloids, which are indeed dangerous if eaten by mistake. Moreover, in Europe, Solanaceae plants such as belladonna, datura, and henbane were all famous poisons at the time, and tomatoes did look somewhat similar to them.

According to some historical records, a French painter in the 17th century became the first person in Europe to safely eat tomatoes. Before tasting this strange fruit, he even wrote a suicide note in case of an emergency, just to experience the taste of tomatoes. But what really made tomatoes a popular ingredient was a cookbook in Naples, Italy in 1692, which clearly recorded that tomatoes were edible. And that "dish" is probably not unfamiliar to everyone, it is pizza. Since then, pasta, borscht, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, tomatoes mixed with sugar... tomatoes have conquered one nation and country after another with their sweet and juicy taste.

Because tomatoes are so popular, the varieties of tomatoes are becoming more and more abundant. Not only do large-sized ordinary tomatoes have many new varieties, but agricultural scientists are also constantly transforming small-sized cherry tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes we buy on the market today are new varieties that were continuously bred by Israeli scientists in the 1970s based on the ancient cherry tomatoes. Because of its sweet taste, long shelf life, easy commercial packaging, and even suitable for soilless cultivation, this variety has been welcomed all over the world since its launch.

It can be seen that the popularity of tomatoes is closely tied to commerce. Of course, this has also caused some troubles for us today: I wonder if you have similar experiences, that is, the tomatoes you eat today are not as delicious as they were when you were a child. Is this because our lives are better now and our tastes have become more sophisticated?

The answer is no. In 2017, Science magazine published a paper on tomatoes. Scientists from China and the United States studied nearly 400 tomato varieties and compared them with local tomatoes produced in my country. They finally found that 13 volatile components related to aroma were significantly reduced in the current hybrid varieties, indicating that this phenomenon is not a "childhood filter", but that the current tomatoes are indeed not as delicious as the previous varieties.

The main reason is that tomatoes are now redder, and the red color affects the accumulation of aroma components. In addition, many tomato varieties in the past had a sandy taste, but such tomatoes were not resistant to storage, so they gradually disappeared. Tomato varieties with good appearance, resistant to storage, and short growth period have gradually become the mainstream in the market.

However, scientists have not given up on the development of tomato resources. Thanks to the Aztecs, many ancient tomato varieties they cultivated are now valued again. Because some people miss the tomatoes they ate when they were young, some people have begun to replant those varieties that don't look too red. Not only that, we can also buy pink, yellow, purple, black, green and even colorful striped tomatoes in the market.

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Here we would like to remind everyone that you must be careful to distinguish between green varieties of tomatoes and unripe green tomatoes. Green varieties of tomatoes such as "Emerald" or "Green Dragon Ball" are green when ripe and can be eaten with confidence; but unripe green tomatoes contain a large amount of solanine, which can easily cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and other symptoms after eating, which is poisoning, so don't eat unripe tomatoes.

The method to distinguish green varieties from unripe tomatoes is simple: gently pinch the skin to see if it is soft, or smell the fruit to see if it has fragrance. Unripe tomatoes are not only hard, but also have a bitter smell. If all else fails, take a small bite first. The bitter taste of solanine will "numb" your tongue, and you can tell whether it is ripe by just tasting it.

Tomatoes have been with humans for three thousand years, but this is not the end but the beginning. Astronauts have even taken tomato seedlings into space to see if this magical plant can bring more surprises to humans. So what is the best way to respect this sour, sweet, and delicious ingredient? Of course, eat all the tomatoes in big mouthfuls!

Source: Chongqing Science and Technology Museum

Author: Quasimodo in the Garden, Master of Agronomy, Science Popularizer

Audit expert: Li Chunli

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