Tomato Facts and Tips
Compiled by Joe Johnson

• North Americans believed tomatoes were poisonous until 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson proved it only myth during a public demonstration on the courthouse steps in Salem, NJ.  But, it was still recommended in many cookbooks up until the early 1900's to completely cook a tomato prior to consumption.
   

• In France, after the poison myth was dispelled, the people came to believe the tomato was an aphrodisiac and called it "pomme d'amour," or "love apple."
   

• Tomatoes were introduced to Americans by Thomas Jefferson, who brought them back from France when he served as U.S. Ambassador
   

• Most of us already know that the tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable.  But we bet you didn't know that in 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the tomato was for legal purposes a vegetable. This court case was filed by New Jersey importer John Nix, who refused to pay an import tariff on his tomatoes.  He argued that botanically they were fruits and therefore not subject to the vegetable tariff. While the Supreme Court justices agreed that tomatoes were genuinely a fruit, it was decided that because they were commonly recognized as vegetables they should therefore be subject to the tariff.
   

• The typical American consumes about 70 - 80 pounds of tomatoes per year.
   

• More than 60 million tons of tomatoes are produced each year, 16 million tons more than the second most popular fruit, the banana, and it is one of the most common plants grown in home gardens.
   

• Even though they are associated with Italy and Italian cooking, tomatoes are believed to have been first cultivated around 700 AD by  the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Ecuador and Peru. Explorers returning from the New World introduced the tomato into Europe sometime during the sixteenth century. These first tomatoes were yellow, and were given the Italian name, "pomodoro," which translates to "golden apple."
   

• Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C and fiber, and are cholesterol free. An average size tomato (148 gram, or 5 oz) boasts only 35 calories.
   

• Medical research suggests that the consumption of lycopene, a carotenoid and the component that makes tomatoes red, may prevent cancer. Lycopene is the most powerful antioxidant in the carotenoid family and along with vitamins C and E, it has been shown to slow the progress of free radicals, and is not naturally created by your body.
   

• The scientific term for the common tomato is lycopersicon lycopersicum, which mean "wolf peach." It is a cousin of the eggplant, red pepper, ground cherry, potato, and the highly toxic belladonna, also known as the nightshade or solanaccae. There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.
   

• According to a Steel Packing Council survey conducted in 1997, 68% of chefs used canned tomatoes because of their convenience, quality and flavoring. Those figures are still accurate to this day.
   

• When buying tomatoes, choose those that actually smell like tomatoes - unripe tomatoes have no aroma. Tomatoes should be firm and juicy, with bright, unblemished skin. Buy them garden-ripe when possible, choosing tomatoes that give a little when squeezed, with a deeply rich color.
   

• Store tomatoes at room temperature.  Because cold temperatures make the flesh of a tomato pulpy as well as destroy their flavor, avoid refrigerating fresh tomatoes. 
   

• Store unripe tomatoes in a brown paper bag for a few days to hasten the ripening process, and once ripe, the tomatoes should be used within a few days.
   

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