In a scientific approach, there is no such term as a vegetable either. Both in the United States as per the ruling in the Nex v. Hedden case and the EU according to the statistical overview of the fruit and vegetable sector, the raw tomato is classified as a vegetable for trade purposes. Before things get too dicey, you need to know the definition of fruit, also: “the usually edible reproductive body of a seed plant; especially one having a sweet pulp,” per Merriam Webster. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Voice going hoarse with tomatoes, you must really love them. We recommend our users to update the browser. Good writer. Therefore, biologically speaking, the tomato can never be a vegetable. This relatively low amount of fructose content is the reason nutritionists argue that the tomato is a vegetable. But if you need a quick answer refer to the table below. A vegetable must be a part of a plant or the whole plant itself, while fruits are just the means by which certain plants spread their seeds. But if you don't want to deal with that messy bottle, you can just opt for slices of ketchup! These cookies do not store any personal information. I have no clue as to what cilantro, kale, mizuna and Lollo Rosa are :) Googling them as I type. When talking about words like "vegetable", it is good to use a dictionary instead of your imagination. Haha I never new fried green tomatoes taste good! Tomatoes are lovely additions to soups, salads, and eggs, or eaten on their own. Vegetables don’t pack this kind of punch. Merriam-Webster defines a fruit as: "The usually edible reproductive body of a seed plant; especially: one having a sweet pulp associated with the seed." In 1886, importer John Nix and colleagues landed a load of West Indian tomatoes at the Port of New York where the resident customs official—one Edward Hedden—demanded payment of a ten percent tax in accordance with the Tariff Act of 1883, which levied an import duty on “foreign vegetables.” Nix, who knew his botany, objected, on the grounds that the tomato –a fruit — should be tax-exempt. Perhaps no other fruit has stirred a great fruit vs vegetable debate as tomato did. Still, it’s generally eaten and prepared like a vegetable, not a fruit. Also, fruit or vegetable, tomatoes will always have a special place in my heart :). (@DaRealKsM) March 31, 2018. Politically and culinarily, however, it’s a whole different ball game. Glad you liked the article. Tennessee: The tomato is the state fruit. Merriam Webster is in agreement: Yes, a tomato is a fruit. Since tomatoes are acidic enough to process through a water bath, the home canning industry categorizes tomatoes as fruits. It can only be a final product. The classical vegetable/fruit story is the tetchy tale of the tomato. Haha tough question :) I've never had squash so I personally don't know. So the answer whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable is not very simple. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Farmers, chefs, and nutritionists might all have different answers to this question. Deb Bryan from Chico California on August 28, 2014: Well done! Because it is costly to buy for a poor people.In winter season tomato cost is going to very lower. The sweetness, the fructose content, none of that has any relevance to the definition of a fruit or vegetable. Although both sides cited dictionary definitions of the two words, the court sided unanimously with #TeamVegetable. Yup I know it is a very common question, that's the reason I wrote this hub. After reading this article you would now be able to use the right terminology when dealing with people depending on the industry you're talking about. Let us see how it is possible. Firstly, it is true that tomatoes are fruits from the scientific angle. Barrington’s argument was that the watermelon was a vegetable by virtue of its genetic relationship to the obviously vegetable (that is, not eaten as dessert) cucumber and gourd; and he got some back-up from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which lists melons under “Vegetables.” The deciding factor, on the other hand, may have been the fact that Oklahoma already had a state fruit: the strawberry.