Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? This problem has been plaguing people for a long, long time. Especially now that it is popular to use fruits into dishes, the existence of tomatoes is very embarrassing, and it is impossible to find a position. And the cherry tomato derived from tomatoes, that is, small tomatoes, is also confusing.
Many people think that no matter what it is, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are delicious and nutritious anyway. But for some people, this is a big problem, and even in the division of fruits and vegetables, there is a lawsuit involving a very high amount of money.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > tomatoes are vegetables or fruits? </h1>
At the time, a British merchant was transporting tomatoes from the West Indies to the United States. At that time, the United States stipulated that import taxes did not have to pay import taxes, but vegetables had to pay 10% import taxes.
U.S. Customs saw the shipment and said: You have to pay taxes on these vegetables!
Of course, the British businessman did not want to pay money, so he said: tomatoes can be eaten raw, it should be considered fruit!
This quarrel, directly quarreled for 6 years, and also escalated the incident into a case, and quarreled to the court. The lawyers hired by the two sides were also very powerful, arguing about this small tomato for 6 years, and finally the court held that the tomato was widely recognized as a vegetable, so it ruled that the British businessman lost the lawsuit and had to pay taxes.
In foreign countries, tomatoes are classified as vegetables, so in China, cherry tomatoes are fruits or vegetables? In fact, according to the "Catalogue of Main Varieties of Vegetables" officially issued by China, it is mentioned that eggplant fruits - tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are vegetables. Even if cherry tomatoes are sold in fruit shops, it is a vegetable.
Seeing this, is everyone a little stunned? Originally thought that tomatoes belong to vegetables, but cherry tomatoes should be fruits, did not expect that they are actually the same type of tomato fruit, but the varieties are different, but they are listed as a kind of vegetables.
In fact, knowing the history of tomatoes, you will know that this ingredient was developed as a vegetable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > the history of tomatoes</h1>
Tomatoes, originally grown in the Peruvian region of Chile in South America, grow freely in the Andes Mountains. In the 16th century, the Spaniards brought the plant, which was still "gooseberry tomato", back to Europe and cultivated it as an ornamental plant.
Later, an Italian herbalist discovered that tomatoes were edible, and he brought small fruits to the table to start cooking, and since then, tomatoes have become one of the ingredients in the kitchen. Later, following in the footsteps of Europeans, it spread to China and became our common vegetable.
Cherry tomato, small in size, but it is the closest to the original variety of tomatoes. In the Andes Mountains of South America, the "gooseberry tomato" looks like this. It also retains more of the characteristics of the original tomato, such as tomatoes with a richer flavor and a higher sweetness.
In this way, whether it is tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, it is a matter of course to be treated as a vegetable. Later, when someone argues whether the cherry tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, you will clearly tell him that it is a vegetable!