Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
Austin, Texas
July 13, 2016 12:04pm CST
When I was growing up we used to eat a lot of tomatoes because we used to eat a lot of conch salad, which is a popular Bahamian dish made with lime juice, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, conch, etc.
Somewhere along my life's timeline, during my tender years, the question popped up as to whether a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable. I decided it was a vegetable. Did no research on the subject. It was an arbitrary decision. Just figured that since it wasn't sweet, it was going to go on my vegetable list. End of discussion!!
It's been decades since this thought crossed my mind. But in looking for a green tomato recipe the tomato fruit or veggie question popped backed into my head.
Decades ago I couldn't Google the answer. But I can now and today, the search results surprised me!
Did you know that the U.S. Supreme Court has actually weighed on this question?
God bless living in America. Americans are without a doubt the most sue-happy people on the planet! We sue for everything! Evidently, a family sued and took the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to get the final answer!
Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?
It turns out, that “legally”, a tomato is a vegetable.
If that wasn't surprising enough, in the process of finding out the answer to the tomato question, it turns out there was a question as to whether the watermelon was a fruit or vegetable. Can you believe it??!!
Is a watermelon a fruit or a vegetable?
Watermelon??? You have to ask???
You can click the link to find out the answer. I'm still fuming over the legal decision and don't want to discuss this any further! 
The seeds don't really matter.
6 people like this
10 responses
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
13 Jul 16
LOL. Yes I do remember that quote.
1 person likes this
@teenspirit (1596)
• Israel
13 Jul 16
wow its really suprised me to see that there are some people who think/ say that tomato is a fruit
2 people like this
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
13 Jul 16
When I was much younger, that was my initial reaction. Why would anybody even suggest that a tomato is a fruit? Are they from another galaxy and don't know any better? (O.o)
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
13 Jul 16
tomato is a fruit, there's no debate about it.
All scientists say it's a fruit...just look it up.
2 people like this
@teenspirit (1596)
• Israel
13 Jul 16
@Mike197602 jewish people welcome before they eat and tomato is welcome "Who creates the fruit of the earth" So by this understand that a tomato is a vegetable
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Jul 16
The correct answer is that tomatoes, along with peppers, chillis, squashes, pumpkins, cucmbers and many other things which we consider to be 'vegetables' are botanically fruits. On the other hand, rhubarb, which we think of as a 'fruit' (because we usually eat it with sugar as a dessert) is NOT a fruit. Ginger and angelica and carrots are also used in contexts which we associate with 'fruit', though they are technically stems.
Of course, all fruits are vegetables (if we are playing 'Animal, Vegetable or Mineral')!
There was a widely-circulated story that the European Union had ruled that carrots are a 'fruit' because some manufacturers use them to make jam. Actually, this myth was due to a ruling that, if a jam maker used more than three fruits (which might include carrots) in their jam, it was only necessary to label it as containing "mixed fruits".
2 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Jul 16
@cmoneyspinner My solution would be to say, "Well, it's not animal juice, is it ... [ewww!]"
2 people like this
LOL. 
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
13 Jul 16
I sort of understand the EU ruling. But I get confused when it comes to juices. If the drink has carrots or tomatoes, is it fruit juice or veggie juice? Because you know the only reason those ingredients were put into the recipe was to fool people into getting their required amount of vegetables. It's a veggie drink that you might want to disguise as fruit juice so that they'll drink it!
2 people like this
@sunilparthan (6302)
• India
13 Jul 16
tomato is fruit and also vegetable too. he he what else to say.
2 people like this
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
13 Jul 16
I've heard from folks who share your position. They say both too!
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
13 Jul 16
It is a fruit, theres no debate going on.
1 person likes this
@crystalvisions (440)
• United Kingdom
14 Jul 16
I have always thought it would be a vegetable. Vegetables are just as versatile as fruits but whereas you get a fruit sorbet, I wouldn't like to try tomato sorbet or tomato flavoured ice cream like you can do with oranges for example.
2 people like this
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
14 Jul 16
Well I would have never thought about sweet potato ice cream, but I learned that it's a real flavor. I think a creative chef can do things to food I would never imagine.
@cmoneyspinner (9218)
• Austin, Texas
31 Aug 17
I have always thought of it as a vegetable but sometimes eat it like a fruit.
1 person likes this
@aarifa (1210)
• India
13 Jul 16
No problem..it may fruit or vegetable..we indians use tomato for curries to rice.so we cant live without tomato
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
13 Jul 16
It's a fruit.
No scientific site that I could find say otherwise.
It is botanically a fruit but seen as a culinary vegetable.
