Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Botanically, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant: therefore it is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and, from a culinary standpoint, it is typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, as are vegetables, rather than at dessert in the case of most fruits. As noted above, the term vegetable has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

This argument has had legal implications in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that 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 the controversy on May 10, 1893 by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)).[30] The holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes other than for paying a tax under a tariff act.

Tomatoes have been designated the state vegetable of New Jersey. Arkansas took both sides by declaring the “South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato” to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its culinary and botanical classifications. In 2006, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a law that would have declared the tomato to be the official state fruit, but the bill died when the Ohio Senate failed to act on it. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. A.W. Livingston, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 1800s.

Due to the scientific definition of a fruit, the tomato remains a fruit when not dealing with US tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (such as zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

That’s straight from Wikipedia

I was always told that you know it’s a fruit because there’s seeds in it.

There are seeds in green beans and they are not considered fruit. Squash is another example. It’s a gourd and has seeds on the inside.

Here’s a scientific term for a tomato – it’s a fregetable. As soon as I find a source for this term, I’ll come back and post a link.

I don’t care what the scientists say on this one, tomatoes are used almost exclusively in vegetable applications. Until I see someone walking around and eating a tomato like an apple I say they are vegetables.

Tomatoes are a fruit.

@jbfletcherfan when is a tomato ever used as a fruit?

@J0E I don’t know that it’s USED as a fruit, but it IS a fruit. My Webster’s dictionary describes it as ‘an edible berry’.

@jbfletcherfan Like I said before, until it is used as something other than a vegetable it is not a fruit. It may qualify as a fruit but it is used as a vegetable.

@J0E I agree, it IS used as a veggie. But that’s not what the question asks. It can be USED as hamburger! But the fact still remains, a tomato is a fruit.

Just like TP can be USED as a tissue. But it’s STILL toilet paper!

@jbfletcherfan I’m not saying it can be used as anything, what I’m saying is it is used as a vegetable so it should be refered to as a vegetable.

@J0E knocking my head against a wall LOLL, okay. You eat it as a vegetable & I’ll eat it as a fruit. Wanna meet for lunch & have a BLT?

lol, I don’t think you understand what I am saying. Tomatoes are never used in recipes as fruit, they are always vegetables. Name something that uses tomatoes as fruit, it’s impossible. They are always used in vegetable applications.

…yes, I would love a BLT.

@J0E ahhhh…...running with hands firmly clenched in hair

I can’t name something that it would be used as a fruit, I guess. I just use them where I want to.

Toasted bread & lots of mayo?

@J0E Until I see someone walking around and eating a tomato like an apple

I do that occasionally, but I like them better sliced up with goat cheese.

How is that any different than Strawberries and cream.

@HarmonyAlexandria Well unfortunately the vegetable applications still heavily outweigh the fruit.

side note: that sounds disgusting

My mom used to make Green Tomato pie. It was delicious. I think that is a fruit type use!