Cultivation and uses
The tomato is now grown world-wide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size from 'cherry tomatoes', about the same 1-2 cm size as the wild tomato, up to 'beafsteak' tomatoes 10 cm or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5-6 cm diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit, but a number of cultivars with yellow fruit are also available. Tomatoes grown for canning are often elongated, 7-9 cm long and 4-5 cm diameter; these are known as 'plum tomatoes'.
Early history
It is believed to have been first cultivated in ancient Peru, where several similar wild species still grow. Then about three thousand years ago it was brought to Mexico. It is an offshoot of the Mexican lineage which is thought to be the direct ancestor of the modern cultivated tomato. The pottery of ancient Peruvian city-states do not appear to mention the tomato, this has led some botanists to conclude that the first cultivation of the tomato was done in Mexico. However this is not conclusive as many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the pottery. Also much horticultural knowledge was lost after the arrival of Europeans, as the Christian Church had a policy of burning all Pre-Columbian books as pagan.
European discovery
In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Europeans believed tomatoes were poisonous because of the plant's relationship to nightshade, although they were grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Tomato leaves and stems are indeed poisonous but the fruit is safe.
The first traces of use of tomato as food in Europe date back to southern Europe in the first half of the 18th century. Only in the second half of the 19th century cultivation of the tomato as food begins to be widespread, mainly in southern Italy and France. Vincenzo Corrado, a cook in the Neapolitan court, describes recipes with tomatoes in the book Il cuoco galante, first edition 1773, adding more recipes with tomatoes in the 1819 edition.
In 1809, Nicolas Appert, a chef from Paris, published L'art de conserver les substances alimentaires d'origine animale et végétale pour plusieurs années, a book on food conservation where he deals with preserving tomatoes.
North America
Young tomato plants in a garden
In the United States, Thomas Jefferson was a pioneer in growing tomatoes. Beginning in 1809, he had large ribbed "Spanish" tomatoes cultivated on his plantation. Jefferson's daughters left numerous recipes that involved tomatoes, including gumbo soups, cayenne-spiced tomato soup, green tomato pickles, tomato preserves, and tomato omelettes. Tomatoes were purchased in 1806 for Presidential dinners. Randolph's The Virginia Housewife has seventeen recipes for tomatoes, including gazpacho, gumbo, and catsup. In an 1824 speech before the Albemarle Agricultural Society, Jefferson's son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph discussed the transformation of Virginia farming due to the introduction of new crops. He mentioned how tomatoes were virtually unknown ten years earlier, but by 1824 everyone was eating them because they believed they kept one's blood pure in the heat of summer
A story that is still widely cited is that the lingering doubts about the safety of the tomato in the United States were largely put to rest in 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced that at noon on September 28, he would eat a basket of tomatoes in front of the Salem, New Jersey courthouse. Reportedly, a crowd of more than 2,000 persons gathered in front of the courthouse to watch the poor man die after eating the poisonous fruits, and were shocked when he lived. Many historians however doubt that this event ever happened.
Modern uses of tomatoes
Tomatoes on a vine
Tomatoes are now eaten freely throughout the world. Today, their consumption is believed to benefit the heart. Lycopene, one of nature's most powerful antioxidants, is present in tomatoes and has been found to be beneficial in preventing prostate cancer, among other things.
Botanically a fruit, the tomato is generally thought of and used as a vegetable: it's more likely to be part of a sauce or a salad than eaten whole as a snack, let alone as part of a dessert (though, depending on the variety, they can be quite sweet, especially roasted).
Tomatoes are used extensively in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, especially Italian ones. The tomato has an acidic property that is used to bring out other flavors. This same acidity makes tomatoes especially easy to preserve in home canning as tomato sauce or paste. Tomato juice is often canned and sold as a beverage. Unripe green tomatoes can also be used to make salsa, be breaded and fried, or pickled.
The town of Buñol, Spain annually celebrates La Tomatina, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight. Tomatoes are also a popular "non-lethal" throwing weapon in mass protests, and there is a common tradition of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad actors or singers on a stage.
Controversie
Botanical classification
The tomato was originally described scientifically in 1753 by Carolus Linnaeus in the genus Solanum as Solanum lycopersicum L. (derivation, 'lycopersicum', "wolf-peach"). Later, in 1768, Philip Miller contended that it was sufficiently distinct from other Solanum species to be given its own genus, so he named it Lycopersicon esculentum. This name, though widely used, is in breach of the plant naming rules, as he failed to use Linnaeus' species name; this oversight was corrected by Hermann Karsten who published the combination Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) H. Karst. in 1881.
However, modern genetic evidence has now shown that Linnaeus was correct, and Miller wrong, in the correct generic placement of the tomato; it is fully within the range of genetic variation found in the genus Solanum. Therefore, Linnaeus' original name has been restored for the species.
Fruit or vegetable?
Tomato fruit
Botanically speaking a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. This would mean that technically it would be considered a fruit. However, from a culinary perspective the tomato is typically served as or part of a main course of a meal, meaning that it would be considered a vegetable. This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States. 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 by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden.
Pronunciation
Heirloom tomato varieties
The pronunciation of tomato differs in different English speaking countries; it can either be pronounced to-MAY-toe or to-MAA-toe. The difference is inherent in the dialects, British English and Commonwealth English speakers typically saying to-MAA-toe, while American English speakers have a tendency to say to-MAY-toe. The word's multiple pronunciations were immortalized in song in Gershwin's 1937 song, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off (You say to-may-to and I say to-mah-to / you say po-tay-to and I say po-tah-to), and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity it has even become an American slang term, saying "to-may-toe, to-maa-toe" when presented with two choices can mean "what's the big deal, there's no real difference.".
Picking and ripening
Tomatoes on vine
Tomatoes are often picked unripe, and ripened in storage with ethylene. Ethylene is the plant hormone produced by many fruits and acts as the cue to begin the ripening process. These tend to keep longer, but have poorer flavor and a mealier, starchier texture than tomatoes ripened on the plant. They may be recognized by their color, which is more pink or orange than the ripe tomato's deep red.
Recently, stores have begun selling "tomatoes on the vine" which are ripened still connected to a piece of vine. These tend to have more flavor (at a price premium) than artificially-ripened tomatoes, but still may not be the equal of local garden produce.
Also relatively recently, slow-ripening cultivars of tomato have been developed by crossing a non-ripening variety with ordinary tomato cultivars. Cultivars were selected whose fruits have a long shelf life and at least reasonable flavor.
Storage
The best storage temperature for tomatoes remains disputed, with a wide range of temperatures from 6°C to 18°C cited by different sources; temperatures below 12.5°C are reported by some sources to cause loss of flavor or other damage, with others stating that low temperatures improve storage time.
Tomato records
The heaviest tomato ever was one of 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz), of the cultivar 'Delicious', grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. The tallest tomato plant grown was 19.8 m (65 ft) by Nutriculture Ltd (UK) of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK, in 2000.
