examples of common vegetables that to a botanist are fruits. Cucumbers, peppers,

peas, pumpkins and squashes are all fruits. For kitchen purposes we prefer to define

any edible produce fruits if they are sweet, and vegetables if they are savory, tart or

sour. There are a few vegetables that we use as fruits—just think of rhubarb pie.

The tomato began in the same part of the region of the Peru-Ecuador Andes as chili peppers

did. The Andean Indians presumably used wild tomatoes which were yellow. Red tomatoes first

appeared in early Mexican cultivation, and these were the seeds that Columbus carried back to

Spain in the 1500s. European kitchens didn’t use them for some 300 years until the mid-1800s, and

North America kitchens (except Mexicans) didn’t accept them until the 1900s.

Tomatoes, that originated in the Americas came back to America the long way. The

Portuguese introduced them to their African colonies and they found their way back to America

with the slaves in the 1700s.

Early tomatoes were rumored to be poisonous, but that couldn't be the only reason people

were so reluctant to add them to their diets. Humans tried all kinds of poisonous fruits and

vegetables, some got sick or died, but the non-poisonous good-tasting foods were put into use, such

as mushrooms. More than likely, those early tomatoes didn't taste good enough to eat. With

cultivation and development of tastier breeds, their popularity grew. By the early 1900s they entire

world accepted them and cherished them.

Flavor development and nutrients

The tomato's botanical classification as a fruit is meaningless to cooks. We use it as a

vegetable, except in rare instances like tomato-strawberry pie or tomato marmalade. But the

distinction is significant in another aspect. Although all vegetables are non-climacteric, which

means that they don't ripen after they are harvested, the tomato, which is a climacteric fruit, will

continue to ripen if they picked it before fully ripe. (See discussion of fruit ripening in the Dessert

chapter)

The term mature is a growers' and agronomists' term and is somewhat misleading to

consumers. It means that the produce (if it is climacteric) has passed a certain phase of growth and

will continue to ripen even if harvested green. That is why they can legally market tomatoes as

"vine-ripened" even when picked virtually green with barely a pink spot or two—sometimes so

green you may mistake it for Granny Smith apples.

It is the correct balance of sugar and acid that defines a good tomato flavor. In fact, that is all

there is to its good flavor. Total solids in a tomato are only 5 to 6 percent, mainly sugars, a small

amount of organic acid, some fibers, protein and flavor compounds. The rest is water. The best

tasting tomatoes have high sugar and high acid in perfect balance. If the sugar is high but the acid is

low, the tomato is sweet and flat-tasting. You can always doctor it up with a small amount of acid

(lemon juice or vinegar) in the dish to remedy. More commonly, however, tomatoes are high in acid

and low in sugar (because they picked them before full development of the sugar). They taste sour

and flavorless. A little sugar may improve the flavor.

A good, fully mature, fresh-picked, truly vine-ripened tomato can be so sweet that it rivals a

ripe peach, but unless you have tomato plants in your back yard, fully-ripe tomatoes are not easy to

find. They harvest all large-scale commercial tomatoes at the mature green stage, and then

artificially ripen them with ethylene gas just before marketing (see discussion of fruits under

Desserts). Should they be left on the vine longer, they become too soft to survive modern

Serious Kitchen Play