Sunday, May 5, 2013

Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Many people argue both sides of this. I have always been on the side that a tomato is a vegetable. In a recent post I discussed whether or not an olive is a fruit or a vegetable too. It can be such tricky area.

It gets all muddled because of how it is defined by cooks and scientists. So, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Scientifically speaking, a tomato is a fruit. If you are like me, you find this hard to swallow since I have always considered fruits to be sweet. And I use tomatoes as I would vegetables because they are savory and not sweet.

Still, if you go to the grocery store you will still find that tomatoes are with the vegetable and are labeled as such. No wonder there is so much confusion. Legally, tomatoes are considered vegetables, that is why you find them listed as a vegetable, and with other vegetables. The Supreme Court ruled that since tomatoes are consumed in a manner like other vegetables it should be classified as a vegetable.

So, there you have it. Scientifically tomatoes are really fruits, but legally they are considered vegetables.

Is an Olive a Fruit or a Vegetable?

I always wondered for the longest time whether an olive was a fruit or a vegetable. It doesn't look like either one. When I think of fruits, I always think sweet, like a strawberry. And when I think about vegetables, an olive doesn't fit that picture either. Defining what makes something a fruit and what makes something a vegetable can be somewhat confusing. Just look at tomatoes. Some people say it is a fruit, but still others say it is a vegetable.

So, what is an olive, a fruit or a vegetable? The answer is olives are fruits. They are specifically the fruit of the olive tree. Olives by no means are your typical fruit. You can't just grab them off the tree and eat them like you could an apple. The olive would be pretty much inedible because it is really bitter before it is cured.

So, there you have it, olives are considered fruits.