Tomato

Food, Plant source foods, Flowering plats (angiospermae), Mesangiosperms, Eudicots, Core eudicots, Superastierds, Asterids, Lamiids, Solanales, Solanaceae, Solanum

Species name: Solanum lycopersicum

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Note: For better understanding, please read the article on flowering plants (angiospermae) first. If you come across unfamiliar words, you can click on any highlighted term to open the glossary with definitions of key botanical terms.

Introduction

The tomato, known botanically as Solanum lycopersicum, produces a fleshy fruit widely treated as a culinary vegetable. It belongs to the nightshade group (Solanaceae), which includes other plants like chili peppers, tobacco, and potatoes. This species was first domesticated in the Andean regions of South America, and only later made its way to Europe through the Spanish conquests during the 16th-century Columbian Exchange. The fruit of the plant, also called a tomato, is the edible portion most commonly harvested.

Description of the plant

Tomato plants are vining perennials, often grown as annuals due to their sensitivity to cold. While some varieties are decumbent that can reach up to 3 meters in length, more compact bush types typically remain under 1 meter tall. As dicotyledons, their structure follows a branching system with a terminal bud at the apex, which drives elongation.

The surface of tomato stems and leaves is densely pubescent, meaning they are coated in short, fine hairs. These hairs are not just for protection; under appropriate conditions—especially when the vine touches moist soil—they can differentiate into roots, a trait that enables the plant to stabilize or regenerate if the primary root system is damaged. The foliage consists of odd-pinnate leaves, usually between 10 and 25 centimeters long, bearing five to nine leaflets per petiole. Each leaflet, up to 8 centimeters in size, has serrated margins, and both leaves and stems are rich in glandular trichomes.

The plant produces bisexual flowers capable of autogamy, a trait that became critical as tomatoes spread beyond their native range without their original pollinators, likely a type of halictid bee. While tomatoes are often believed to be self-pollinating, this is a simplification. In controlled environments, such as greenhouses, natural pollination is inefficient, and successful fertilization often requires external stimuli like mechanical vibration, airflow, or the introduction of domesticated bumblebees.

Tomato flowers form at the apical meristem and are small, yellow, and about 1 to 2 centimeters in diameter. They typically appear in cymes, grouped in clusters of three to twelve. Each flower features five pointed lobes on the corolla and its anthers curve to form a cone-like structure that creates a tube around pistil’s style. This arrangement surrounds the stigma, helping to facilitate contact during pollination, although successful fertilization often still requires external assistance.

Description of the edible part (fruit)

The fruit of the tomato arises from the plant’s ovary following fertilization, with its edible part made up of the pericarp. Inside, the fruit contains locules, which are seed-filled hollow chambers. The number of locules differs across cultivated types: smaller varieties may have only two, round tomatoes usually have three to five, beefsteak types possess many small locules, while plum tomatoes have few and very tiny locules. For propagation, seeds must be taken from fully ripe fruit and undergo a brief fermentation to remove the gelatinous coating before drying and planting.

Tomatoes, known for their umami flavor, play a central role in Mediterranean cuisine, especially in dishes like pizza and numerous pasta sauces. They also feature prominently in Spanish dishes such as gazpacho and Catalan pa amb tomàquet. In the Middle East, tomatoes are essential, appearing fresh in various salads like salads, grilled alongside kebabs, or cooked into sauces and other recipes.

Following European introduction, tomatoes were gradually adopted into Indian curry dishes. For instance, the Kashmiri curry rogan josh often includes tomatoes, possibly replacing or complementing the original red coloring from chili peppers; the Punjabi variant also frequently incorporates them. The popular British curry tikka masala typically uses a tomato-and-cream sauce.

When it comes to storage, tomatoes last longest when kept unwashed at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, rather than refrigerated. Placing them stem-side down helps extend freshness. To ripen green tomatoes, placing them in a paper bag is effective. Tomatoes can also be preserved through canning, freezing, drying, or by cooking them into paste or puree forms.

History of the tomato

The wild tomato ancestor, Solanum pimpinellifolium, is native to western South America, where it was likely first cultivated. The cherry tomato, S. lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, may have been the first domesticated form, leading to modern larger varieties. Yet, recent genomic studies indicate a more complex domestication, with some traits being lost and later reselected in cultivated tomatoes. Var. cerasiforme may have existed for around 78,000 years, while true domestication dates back only to about 5,000 BCE.

By 500 BCE, tomatoes were already grown in southern Mexico and likely other Mesoamerican regions. The Aztecs raised multiple varieties, calling red ones xitomatl and green tomatillos tomatl. Markets in Tenochtitlán featured a vast range—large, small, sweet, oddly shaped, and multicolored tomatoes. They were widely used in sauces, cooked and sold fresh, reflecting their culinary importance.

Following Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, tomatoes were brought to Europe through the Columbian exchange. Initially grown as ornamentals, Europeans hesitated to eat them due to their link to the nightshade family. In 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli described them as a new type of eggplant, and by the 1550s, he referred to them as pomi d’oro, or “golden apples“.

The Spanish introduced tomatoes across their Caribbean colonies, then to the Philippines, from where they spread into Asia. In China, they arrived in the 16th century and were called fānqié (“foreign eggplant”), a label often given to imported plants.

In Italy, a letter from 1548 mentioned tomatoes arriving at the Medici estate in Florence. At first, they were grown purely for their aesthetic value. Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote that they were appreciated only for their beauty, not eaten. Their growth near the ground, plus fear of toxicity, prevented their adoption as food, especially among the peasantry.

Tomatoes began appearing in Italian cuisine in the late 1600s or early 1700s, especially in Naples. The earliest known cookbook with tomato recipes was published in 1692, likely using Spanish-influenced dishes. Over time, Italy developed regional varieties suited for drying, sauces, and preservation, such as the famous San Marzano and the Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio.

In Britain, tomatoes weren’t grown until the 1590s. John Gerard, a barber-surgeon, was one of the first to cultivate them. Though he acknowledged their use in Italy and Spain, he claimed they were poisonous. This view lingered for centuries, and even by the early 19th century, tomatoes were seen as curiosities, not everyday food. Tomatoes were often called “love apples”, a term probably arising from a misreading of pomo dei Mori (“Moors’ apple”) as pomme d’amour (“apple of love”). They were typically eaten in Italy with oil and vinegar but were viewed in Britain as part of exotic foreign cuisines.

In the Middle East, the tomato was introduced in the early 1800s by John Barker, a British diplomat in Aleppo. Reports from the 1880s confirm they were only recently adopted into local dishes, mostly in cooked form.

In North America, the first record of tomato cultivation dates to 1710 in South Carolina, likely introduced from the Caribbean. Though Thomas Jefferson grew them, most Americans saw tomatoes as ornamental and possibly dangerous. They were called “wolf-apples” or “globes of the devil”, and eaten by only a few.

That changed in the late 19th century, thanks to Alexander W. Livingston, who bred tomatoes for the market. His goal was to create smooth, sweet, uniform fruits. He introduced the Paragon in 1870, followed by the Acme in 1875, both of which shaped many modern cultivars.

Tomatoes thrived in warm regions like Florida and California, becoming major crops. In California, large-scale irrigated farming supported both fresh and processed tomato production. Institutions such as UC Davis and the California Tomato Research Institute became leaders in genetic research, variety development, and dry-farming techniques, helping shape the tomato’s global success.

Classification of tomatoes

Tomatoes are primarily classified according to the cultivars to which they belong (the names listed below generally refer to the fruits, not the plants themselves). Among the most notable are:

• Stella tomato (Pomodoro Stella)

In addition, there are various tomato-based foods, which are more thoroughly described in a dedicated section.

Nutritional facts table of the fruit

Since nutritional values can vary slightly depending on the cultivar, the figures provided below represent general averages.

Nutrients	Per 100 g
Calories (kcal)	18
Total fat (g)	0.2
———Saturated fat (g)	0.03
Cholesterol (mg)	0
Sodium (mg)	5
Total carbohydrates (g)	3.89
———Dietary fiber (g)	1.2
———Total sugar (g)	2.63
Protein (g)	0.88

Recipes that use this product as an ingredient:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato