Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?

[XTO]

Bell pepper? Cucumber?

both are fruit

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_a_cucum...or_a_vegetable

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...6824.Ag.r.html

[XTO]

so okra, sitaw kalabasa etc are considered as fruits? hehehe parang mali ata

sitaw or string beans are the unripe fruit of any bean so as okra and pumpkins.

http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com..._or_vegetable_

[XTO]

even ampalaya or bitter melon is a fruit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon

[Sheep]

fruit kasi bunga eh

Generally as a rule, fruit have seeds and vegetables dont.

even ampalaya or bitter melon is a fruit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon

care for ampalaya juice?

[ab_initio]

Here is the definition of fruit:

“The term fruit has different meanings depending on context. In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary—together with seeds—of a flowering plant. In many species, the fruit incorporates the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plant species they come from. No one terminology really fits the enormous variety that is found among plant fruits. Botanical terminology for fruits is inexact and will remain so.” (Wikipedia.org)


Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Answer: “To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS?

If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.”

By these definitions, a pumpkin is a fruit, botanically speaking. So are squash and zucchini.

Modern society commonly refers to all these fruits as vegetables:

Pumpkin
Squash
Tomato
Cucumbers
Green beans
Capsicum peppers
Bell peppers

The definition of vegetable:

“Vegetable is a culinary term. Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables…Since ‘vegetable’ is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable. Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.” (Wikipedia.org)

This is the correct answer for all your food trivia pursuits:

If you are speaking in a botanical, scientific context, then pumpkin, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, tomato and squash are FRUITS because they all have seeds. If you are speaking in culinary terms, they can all be properly called VEGETABLES.

Case solved, right? Not quite. The United States Supreme Court entered into this fascinating debate and gave a legal verdict on whether a tomato should be classified as a vegetable or a fruit. They decided unanimously, in Nix versus Hedden, 1883, that a tomato is a vegetable, even though it is a botanical fruit.

So, there you have the difference between fruit and vegetable and an amazing nutrition fact. A tomato is a fruit AND a vegetable. A pumpkin is a fruit AND a vegetable. The age-old question of "Is it a fruit or vegetable?" has been resolved. Next, we will tackle "Which came first - the chicken or the egg?" (You do know it was the chicken first, right?)

lifted from:

http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com..._or_vegetable_

[frenchtower]

It's a fruit. It belongs to the berry family.

[falken]

I always thought of it as a vegetable until I read somewhere that it's a fruit.

[Horsepower]

It's a fruit. I eat it fresh with salt. hehe.

[renzo_d10]

I thought tomato is a vegetable, well. since tsikoteers has proven that tomato is a fruit.......who am I to object?

[Negus]

It's a vegetable fruit.

based on vegetable and fruit definition, It's both. vegetable can be an adjective and a noun.