Almost every school vegetable garden hosts tomato plants, and the ability to grow a handsome tomato earns a gardener the title of "green thumb." Tomatoes are delicious staple of American cuisine, which is fortunate considering that they provide important vitamins, minerals, and cancer-fighting antioxidants. With fresh tomatoes on sandwiches and burgers, and processed tomatoes in pizza, salsa, and catsup, it's hard to make it through a day without eating a tomato or tomato-based product!

Scientific Name: Lycopersicon esculentum
The word "tomato" is derived from the Mexican Indian word tomati, but the plant has had many other interesting names. In Europe it was also known by its French given name "Love Apple" (pomme d'amour) which developed from a poor translation of the Spanish "Moor's Apple" (pome dei Moro). The scientific name, Lycopersicon esculentum, translates to "juicy wolf peach" and is derived from the German legend that one could use the fruits to evoke werewolves!

History and Uses
Scientists believe tomatoes originated in the Andes Mountains of Peru and were brought to Central America and Mexico by emigrating Indians. The first written record of the tomato dates to the 1550's when European explorers returned home from Mexico with tomato plants. The Italians documented eating the fruit, while England, Spain, and France dared grow it only for its ornamental value because of its close resemblance to deadly nightshade (Atropus belladonna). It's true that the leaves and stems contain toxins that are harmful if consumed in large quantity, but eventually Europeans discovered that the fruit itself was safe and tasty. By the mid 1700s it was firmly established as a popular food crop in Europe.

Ironically, tomatoes were introduced to the United States via European colonists in the late 1700s rather than by movement up the continent from Mexico. The fruit's popularity grew during the 1800s, though the fear of poison still lingered for some farmers. A farm journal published an article in 1820 recounting a story of Colonel Robert Gibbon eating a bushel of tomatoes in front of the Boston Courthouse to prove they were not poisonous! The article concluded that his act dispelled hesitations in American consumers about the safety of the tomato. There is some debate over the validity of this story, but nonetheless, acceptance of the tomato as a food source grew.

The tomato even made an appearance in the United States Supreme Court. The Tariff Act of 1883 placed a tax on imported vegetables including tomatoes, and in 1893 a knowledgeable importer challenged that the tomato is botanically a fruit and not subject to these taxes. However, the Supreme Court ruled that even though the tomato is botanically a fruit, in practical terms it is consumed as part of meal like other vegetables and that fruits are usually consumed individually or as a dessert. Therefore by ruling of the Supreme Court the tomato is a vegetable. So if you're asked if a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, the answer is, "Both!"

Commercial tomato production began in the United States in the 1920s and tomato farming is a large industry today. Tomatoes are grown in fields and in greenhouses, allowing year round production. Fruits come in all different sizes (cherry to beefsteak), shapes (oblong, pear-shaped, and round), and colors (red, yellow, green, and purple). It's rare to see tomatoes of unusual shape or color in the grocery store, but there are hundreds of interesting varieties that you can grow from seed. The horticulture industry invests millions of dollars annually selecting and developing new tomato varieties to temp both commercial growers and backyard gardeners.

Nutrition Information:
Besides delicious flavor, tomatoes provide important nutrients including vitamin C, folate, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. They recently received another public relations boost when they were identified as an excellent source of the antioxidant phytonutrient lycopene. Researchers have discovered links between consuming tomatoes and tomato products and the prevention of many types of cancers.

For a fruit - or vegetable - once considered poisonous by the "civilized" world, the tomato has come a long way and is valued by cultures everywhere. What would we do without it?

For additional historical information, read these articles:
Our Vegetable Travelers
I Say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto

Growing Information:
Tomatoes are a member of the Solanaceae or Nightshade family. They are sensitive to cold temperatures and extreme heat, therefore we grow them as annuals. Tomatoes stop setting fruit when night temperatures are higher than 70° F, so gardeners in the Deep South grow them as a spring and fall crop. Gardeners elsewhere in the United States grow them as a summer crop.

To produce fruits, plants need 6 to 8 hours of full sun, ample water, and fertile soil. Too much fertilizer can lead to excessive leaf growth and few fruits.

Start tomatoes from seeds indoors or purchase seedlings from garden centers. Plant them after the last spring frost date in your region, but make sure to have something available, such as water-filled tepees or bed sheets, to protect plants from late frosts.

Tomatoes self-pollinate, so a single plant will produce fruit (although planting more than one provides insurance against loss due to disease or insect problems). Fruits continue to ripen after picked, so you can pick them before they are fully ripe to prevent birds and rodents from munching them.

For more detailed growing information, check out the National Gardening Association Tomato Gardening Guide or your state Cooperative Extension Web site.