A popular summer staple, the tomato is a fruit that is served as a vegetable. Few summer flavors can beat the taste of an excellent tomato on a salad or hamburger or in a sandwich. Tomatoes can come in red, yellow, green, purple, brown, and even striped verities.
The tomato plant is an herbaceous, sprawling plant that is part of the nightshade family. Close cousins of the plant include tobacco, chili peppers, potatoes, and eggplants. As the tomato is a part of the nightshade family, for many years people avoided eating the fruit. They avoided the fruit because a number of plants in the nightshade family are extremely poisonous. In the 20th century, this idea began to change in the United States.
The plant is native to Central America, southern North America, and South America. This gives the plant a native range spanning from Mexico to Argentina. To grow well, tomato plants require a minimum of 6 hours of sun a day.
The tomato was originally brought to Europe by Spanish explorers. The idea of eating the fruit did not take on quickly because of its association with nightshade. The tomato is a fruit in the botanical sense but lacks the dessert quality sweetness of other fruits. Because of this, it is more commonly prepared as a vegetable. The tomato is sweet but is accompanied by a bitter, acidic taste. When cooking the tomato, the heating process tempers the bitterness and allows the sweetness to come out in more flavor.
As the tomato tastes great on sandwiches, in salads, or sliced, it is a great summer food. The food is a good source vitamins A and C as well as a number of antioxidants. The lycopene found in the fruit is excellent for a person's heart making cooked tomatoes an excellent food if one is trying to be heart healthy.
When growing tomato plants, there are two broad categories, indeterminate and determinate. Determinate plants grow to a certain height and then stop. They then flower and produce all of their fruit within a relatively short time. This is a great type of plant to grow if trying to can tomatoes but isn't the best type if you want a summer of tomatoes to enjoy once a week, or so. Indeterminate plants grow, flower, and set their fruit over a longer period of time. They basically grow in stages. This is the best type of plant to get if the goal is to have a tomato a week.
For more information on tomatoes and popular recipes involving them, please visit http://cdkitchen.com.
Joseph Devine
dehydrator