In my essay last week, I wrote about how fruits and vegetables can be a beneficial part of your diet and your well-being. Online I learned that one of them, the tomato, has an annual production of 60 million tons, 16 million more than the second most popular fruit, bananas; and apples are the third. The “Joy of Cooking” cookbook lists 64 tomato recipes.

An article written by K. Annabelle Smith, which was originally published in Smithsonian Magazine, with the intriguing title “Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years” got my attention.

Tomatoes originated in South and Central America at about 700 A.D., and have had a very interesting journey. They were brought to Europe after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs Empire. In the article about tomatoes, I learned that while tomatoes are fruit that are botanically classified as berries, they are commonly used as vegetables. This is perhaps why in 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Mother Nature by declaring tomatoes were not fruits, but vegetables. 

Most of us are familiar with the processed fruit, which is harvested by machines while still green. Some producers even shape tomatoes in squares for more productive packaging. I personally prefer Heirloom Tomatoes, which I’ve purchased at farmers markets and in specialty stores. Smelling them brings back a memory of my childhood. When I was a teenager, a group of us broke into someone’s greenhouse and stole big ripe tomatoes that we then threw at each other. As a teenager, I also liked to drink tomato juice which was sold at local vegetable stores. The last time we used tomato juice was some years ago to give our corgi dog a bath, after he was sprayed by a skunk.