The tomato is the edible

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. The Mexican

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

word gave rise to the Spanish word , from which the English word ''tomato'' derived. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

s of

. The

Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...

, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the

, they brought the plant to Europe, in a widespread transfer of plants known as the

Columbian exchange The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) in ...

. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century. Tomatoes are a significant source of

umami Umami ( from ja, 旨味 ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and ...

flavor. They are consumed in diverse ways: raw or cooked, and in many dishes, sauces,

salads A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

, and drinks. While tomatoes are

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s—

botanically Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

classified as berries—they are commonly used culinarily as a

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

ingredient or

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal. Numerous varieties of the tomato plant are widely grown in

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

s across the world, with

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

s allowing for the production of tomatoes throughout all seasons of the year. Tomato plants typically grow to in height. They are

vines A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

that have a weak

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

that sprawls and typically needs support. Indeterminate tomato plants are

perennials A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

in their native habitat, but are cultivated as annuals. (Determinate, or bush, plants are annuals that stop growing at a certain height and produce a crop all at once.) The size of the tomato varies according to the

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

, with a range of in width.

Names

Grape tomatoes on the vine at Ljubljana Central Market

Etymology

The word ''tomato'' comes from the Spanish , which in turn comes from the

word , meaning 'swelling fruit'; also 'fat water' or 'fat thing'. The native Mexican

tomatillo The tomatillo (''Physalis philadelphica'' and ''Physalis ixocarpa''), also known as the Mexican husk tomato, is a plant of the nightshade family bearing small, spherical, and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos originated ...

is . When Aztecs started to cultivate the fruit to be larger, sweeter and red, they called the new variety (or ) (), ('plump with navel' or 'fat water with navel'). The specific name ''lycopersicum'' (from the 1753 book ) is of Greek origin (''λύκοπερσικων; lykopersikon''), meaning 'wolf peach'.

Pronunciation

The usual pronunciations of ''tomato'' are (usual in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

) and (usual in

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

). The word's dual pronunciations were immortalized in

Ira Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's 1937 song "

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film ''Shall We Dance'', where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates. The shee ...

" ("You like and I like / You like and I like ") and have become a symbol for

nitpicking Nitpicking is a term, first used in 1956, that describes the action of giving too much attention to unimportant detail. A person who nitpicks is termed as a nitpicker. The terminology originates from the common act of manually removing nits (t ...

pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has even become an American and British slang term: saying "" when presented with two choices can mean "What's the difference?" or "It's all the same to me".

Botany

Description

Tomato plants are vines, initially

decumbent This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

, typically growing or more above the ground if supported, although erect bush varieties have been bred, generally tall or shorter. Indeterminate types are "tender" perennials, dying annually in temperate climates (they are originally native to tropical highlands), although they can live up to three years in a greenhouse in some cases. Determinate types are annual in all climates. Tomato plants are

dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

s, and grow as a series of branching stems, with a terminal bud at the tip that does the actual growing. When the tip eventually stops growing, whether because of pruning or flowering, lateral buds take over and grow into other, fully functional, vines. Green Tomato

Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs. The hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original root has been damaged or severed. Most tomato plants have

compound leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants, but some cultivars have simple leaves known as

potato leaf Potato leaf (PL) is one of two major types of leaves which tomato plants exhibit. The other type is referred to as "regular leaf" (RL). Simply stated, potato leaf tomato plants have a smooth leaf edge when compared with the serrated edge of the reg ...

(PL) style because of their resemblance to that particular relative. Of RL plants, there are variations, such as rugose leaves, which are deeply grooved, and

variegated Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants. Species with variegated individuals are sometimes found in the understory of tropical rainforests, and this habitat is the s ...

, angora leaves, which have additional colors where a genetic mutation causes

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...

to be excluded from some portions of the leaves. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long, odd pinnate, with five to nine leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. Their

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, appearing on the apical

meristem The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells conti ...

, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

's style. Flowers in domestic cultivars can be self-fertilizing. The flowers are across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together. Although in

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of outline of food preparation, food preparation, cooking and food presentation, presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as res ...

terms, tomato is regarded as a vegetable, its fruit is classified

as a

. As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls. The fruit contains hollow spaces full of seeds and moisture, called locular cavities. These vary, among cultivated species, according to type. Some smaller varieties have two cavities, globe-shaped varieties typically have three to five,

beefsteak tomato A beef tomato (British English) or beefsteak tomato (American English) is one of the largest varieties of cultivated tomatoes, some weighing or more. Most are pink or red with numerous small seed compartments ( locules) distributed throughout th ...

es have a great number of smaller cavities, while paste tomatoes have very few, very small cavities. For propagation, the seeds need to come from a mature fruit, and be dried or fermented before germination.

Classification

In 1753,

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

placed the tomato in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

'' (alongside the

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

) as ''Solanum lycopersicum''. In 1768,

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dictio ...

moved it to its own genus, naming it ''Lycopersicon esculentum''. The name came into wide use, but was technically in breach of the plant naming rules because Linnaeus's species name ''lycopersicum'' still had priority. Although the name ''Lycopersicum lycopersicum'' was suggested by Karsten (1888), it is not used because it violates the International Code of Nomenclature barring the use of

tautonyms A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as ''Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' in ...

in botanical nomenclature. The corrected name ''Lycopersicon lycopersicum'' (Nicolson 1974) was technically valid, because Miller's genus name and Linnaeus's species name differ in exact spelling, but since ''Lycopersicon esculentum'' has become so well known, it was officially listed as a ''nomen conservandum'' in 1983, and would be the correct name for the tomato in classifications which do not place the tomato in the genus ''Solanum''. Genetic evidence has now shown that Linnaeus was correct to put the tomato in the genus ''Solanum'', making ''Solanum lycopersicum'' the correct name. Both names, however, will probably be found in the literature for some time. Two of the major reasons for considering the genera separate are the leaf structure (tomato leaves are markedly different from any other ''Solanum''), and the biochemistry (many of the alkaloids common to other ''Solanum'' species are conspicuously absent in the tomato). On the other hand, hybrids of tomato and diploid

can be created in the lab by

somatic fusion Somatic fusion, also called protoplast fusion, is a type of genetic modification in plants by which two distinct species of plants are fused together to form a new Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant with the characteristics of both, a somatic hybri ...

, and are partially fertile, providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.

Genetics and genetic modification

Genome

An international consortium of researchers from 10 countries, began sequencing the tomato

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

in 2004. A prerelease version of the genome was made available in December 2009. The complete genome for the cultivar Heinz 1706 was published on 31 May 2012 in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. The latest reference genome published in 2021 had 799 MB and encodes 34,384 (predicted) proteins, spread over 12 chromosomes.

Genetic modification

Since many other fruits, like

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

s, and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

s share the same characteristics and genes, researchers stated the published genome could help to improve food quality, food security and reduce costs of all of these fruits. The first commercially available

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

was a tomato called

Flavr Savr Flavr Savr (also known as CGN-89564-2; pronounced "flavor saver"), a genetically modified tomato, was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was developed by the Californian company ...

, which was engineered to have a longer shelf life. However, it is no longer commercially available. Scientists are continuing to develop tomatoes with new traits not found in natural crops, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses or better flavor.

Breeding

The Tomato Genetic Resource Center,

Germplasm Resources Information Network Germplasm Resources Information Network or GRIN is an online USDA National Genetic Resources Program software project to comprehensively manage the computer database for the holdings of all plant germplasm collected by the National Plant Germplasm ...

, AVRDC, and numerous seed banks around the world store seed representing genetic variations of value to modern agriculture. These seed stocks are available for legitimate breeding and research efforts. While individual breeding efforts can produce useful results, the bulk of tomato breeding work is at universities and major agriculture-related corporations. These efforts have resulted in significant regionally adapted breeding lines and hybrids, such as the Mountain series from North Carolina. Corporations including

Heinz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

, BHNSeed, and Bejoseed have breeding programs that attempt to improve production, size, shape, color, flavor, disease tolerance, pest tolerance, nutritional value, and numerous other traits.

Fruit versus vegetable

Botanically Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, a tomato is a

—a

, consisting of the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

, together with its seeds, of a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

. However, the tomato is considered a "

culinary vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

" because it has a much lower sugar content than culinary fruits; because it is more savoury (umami) than sweet, it is typically served as part of a salad or

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course. Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...

of a meal, rather than as a

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...

. Tomatoes are not the only food source with this ambiguity;

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as paprika, sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange ...

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

green bean Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean ('' Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis ...

s, aubergines/eggplants,

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

s, and squashes of all kinds (such as courgettes/zucchini and

pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

s) are all botanically fruit, yet cooked as vegetables. The confusion on whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables has led to legal dispute in the United States. In 1887, U.S.

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

laws that imposed a

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

on vegetables, but not on fruit, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. In ''

Nix v. Hedden ''Nix v. Hedden'', 149 U.S. 304 (1893), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 9–0, that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit for purposes of tariffs, imports, and customs. J ...

'', the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

settled the tariff controversy on May 10, 1893, by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use—they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The holding of this case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff of 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes.

History

Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Solanum lycopersicum var

The wild ancestor of the tomato, ''

Solanum pimpinellifolium ''Solanum pimpinellifolium'', commonly known as the currant tomato or pimp, is a wild species of tomato native to Ecuador and Peru but naturalized elsewhere, such as the Galápagos Islands. Its small fruits are edible, and it is commonly grown i ...

'', is native to western South America. These wild versions were the size of peas. The first evidence of domestication points to the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

s and other peoples in

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

, who used the fruit fresh and in their cooking. The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish food. In France, Italy and northern Europe, the tomato was initially grown as an ornamental plant. It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a

nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

, a relative of the poisonous belladonna. This was exacerbated by the interaction of the tomato's acidic juice with

pewter Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades of ...

plates. The leaves and fruit contain

tomatine Tomatine (sometimes called tomatin or lycopersicin) is a glycoalkaloid, found in the stems and leaves of tomato plants, and in the fruits at much lower concentrations. Chemically pure tomatine is a white crystalline solid at standard temperature ...

, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains a much lower amount of tomatine than the immature fruit.

Mesoamerica

The exact date of domestication is unknown; by 500 BC, it was already being cultivated in southern

and probably other areas. The

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

. The large, lumpy variety of tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated in Mesoamerica, and may be the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes. The Aztecs raised several varieties of tomato, with red tomatoes called ''xictomatl'' and green tomatoes called ''tomatl'' (

Tomatillo The tomatillo (''Physalis philadelphica'' and ''Physalis ixocarpa''), also known as the Mexican husk tomato, is a plant of the nightshade family bearing small, spherical, and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos originated ...

Bernardino de Sahagún Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM (; – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he ...

reported seeing a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at Tenochtitlán (Mexico City): ". . . large tomatoes, small tomatoes, leaf tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, large serpent tomatoes, nipple-shaped tomatoes," and tomatoes of all colors from the brightest red to the deepest yellow. Bernardino de Sahagún mentioned Aztecs cooking various sauces, some with and without tomatoes of different sizes, serving them in city markets: "foods sauces, hot sauces; fried

ood The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future (circa 42nd century). The Ood are portrayed as a slave race, natural ...

olla-cooked

juices, sauces of juices, shredded

with

chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, with

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

seeds ost_likely_Cucurbita_pepo.html" ;"title="Cucurbita_pepo.html" ;"title="ost likely Cucurbita pepo">ost likely Cucurbita pepo">Cucurbita_pepo.html" ;"title="ost likely Cucurbita pepo">ost likely Cucurbita pepo with tomatoes, with smoked chile, with hot chile, with yellow chile, with mild red chile sauce, yellow chile sauce, hot chile sauce, with "bird excrement" sauce, sauce of smoked chile, heated [sauces], bean sauce; [he sells] toasted beans, cooked beans, mushroom sauce, sauce of small squash, sauce of large tomatoes, sauce of ordinary tomatoes, sauce of various kinds of sour herbs,

sauce."

Spanish distribution

Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

may have been the first to transfer a small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

, now Mexico City, in 1521. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a

herbal A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A herbal m ...

written in 1544 by

Pietro Andrea Mattioli Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli (; 12 March 1501 – ) was a doctor and naturalist born in Siena. Biography He received his MD at the University of Padua in 1523, and subsequently practiced the profession in Siena, Rome, Trento and Gorizia ...

, an Italian physician and botanist, who suggested that a new type of

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...

had been brought to Italy that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil. It was not until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as ''pomi d'oro'', or "golden apples". After the

Spanish colonization of the Americas Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions ...

, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. They also took it to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, from where it spread to

southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

s, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain.

China

The tomato was introduced to China, likely via the Philippines or Macau, in the 1500s. It was given the name ''fānqié'' (barbarian eggplant), as the Chinese named many foodstuffs introduced from abroad, but referring specifically to early introductions.

Italy

The recorded history of tomatoes in Italy dates back to at least 31 October 1548, when the house steward of

Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...

, the grand duke of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, wrote to the Medici private secretary informing him that the basket of tomatoes sent from the grand duke's Florentine estate at

Torre del Gallo ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to: Biology * Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome * ' ...

"had arrived safely". Tomatoes were grown mainly as ornamentals early on after their arrival in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty", and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. The tomato's ability to mutate and create new and different varieties helped contribute to its success and spread throughout Italy. However, even in areas where the climate supported growing tomatoes, their habit of growing to the ground suggested low status. They were not adopted as a staple of the peasant population because they were not as filling as other fruits already available. Additionally, both toxic and inedible varieties discouraged many people from attempting to consume or prepare any other varieties. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration, until it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. Unique varieties were developed over the next several hundred years for uses such as dried tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, pizza tomatoes, and tomatoes for long-term storage. These varieties are usually known for their place of origin as much as by a variety name. For example, ''

Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio The Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio or sometimes just ''Pomodorino Vesuviano'', is a grape tomato grown in Naples, Italy, and has Protected Geographical Status, PDO protected status, which was granted in 2009.

'' is the "hanging tomato of Vesuvius", or the well known and highly-prized San Marzano

plum tomato A plum tomato, also known as a processing tomato or paste tomato, is a type of tomato bred for sauce and packing purposes. It is generally oval or cylindrical in shape, with significantly fewer locules (seed compartments, usually only two) than ...

grown in that region.

Britain

Tomatoes for sale in a UK supermarket 2013

Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s. One of the earliest cultivators was

John Gerard John Gerard (also John Gerarde, c. 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular gard ...

, a

barber-surgeon The barber surgeon, one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, was generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians, but instead by barber ...

. Gerard's ''Herbal'', published in 1597, and largely

plagiarized Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed it was poisonous (in fact, the plant and raw fruit do have low levels of

, but are not generally dangerous; see below). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and its North American colonies. However, by the mid-18th century, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain, and before the end of that century, the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' stated the tomato was "in daily use" in

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...

s, and as a garnish. They were not part of the average person's diet, and though by 1820 they were described as "to be seen in great abundance in all our vegetable markets" and to be "used by all our best cooks", reference was made to their cultivation in gardens still "for the singularity of their appearance", while their use in cooking was associated with exotic Italian or Jewish cuisine.

India

The tomato arrived in India by the way of Portuguese explorers, in the 16th century. It was grown from the 18th century onwards for the British. Even today, in Bengal, the alternative name is "Biliti Begun" ( bn, বিলিতি বেগুন), meaning "Foreign Eggplant" It was then adopted widely as it is well suited to India's climate, with Uttarakhand as one of the main producers.

Middle East and North Africa

The tomato was introduced to cultivation in the Middle East by John Barker, British consul in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

''circa'' 1799 to 1825. Nineteenth century descriptions of its consumption are uniformly as an ingredient in a cooked dish. In 1881, it is described as only eaten in the region "within the last forty years". Today, the tomato is a critical and ubiquitous part of

Middle Eastern cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Cypriot, Egyptian, Georgian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Kurdish, Lebanese, Palestinian and Turkish cuisines. Common ingredients include olives and ol ...

, served fresh in salads (e.g.,

Arab salad Arab salad or Arabic salad is any of a variety of salad dishes that form part of Arab cuisine. Combining many different fruits and spices, and often served as part of a mezze, Arab salads include those from Algeria and Tunisia such as the "Algeri ...

, Israeli salad,

Shirazi salad Shirazi salad ( fa, سالاد شیرازی ''sālād shirāzi'') is an Iranian cuisine, Iranian salad that originated from and is named after Shiraz in southern Iran. It is a relatively modern dish, dating to sometime after the introduction of th ...

and Turkish salad), grilled with

kebab Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish that originates from cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the category are popular around the wor ...

s and other dishes, made into sauces, and so on.

United States

NRCSHI07018 - Hawaii (716072)(NRCS Photo Gallery)

The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

is from 1710, when herbalist

William Salmon William Salmon (1644–1713) was an English empiric doctor and a writer of medical texts. He advertised himself as a "Professor of Physick". Salmon held an equivocal place in the medical community. He led apothecaries in opposing attempts by ...

reported seeing them in what is today

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

s than as food.

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, who ate tomatoes in Paris, sent some seeds back to America. Some early American advocates of the culinary use of the tomato included

Michele Felice Cornè Michele Felice Cornè (1752–1845) was an artist born in Elba who settled in the United States. He lived in Salem and Boston, Massachusetts; and in Newport, Rhode Island. He painted marine scenes, portraits, and interior decorations such as fir ...

and

Robert Gibbon Johnson Robert Gibbon Johnson (July 23, 1771 – October 2, 1850), also known as Colonel Johnson, was an American gentleman farmer, historian, horticulturalist, judge, soldier and statesman who lived in Salem, New Jersey. He is especially renowned for t ...

. Early tomato breeders included Henry Tilden in Iowa and a Dr. Hand in Baltimore. Alexander W. Livingston receives much credit for developing numerous varieties of tomato for both home and commercial gardeners. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1937 yearbook declared that "half of the major varieties were a result of the abilities of the Livingstons to evaluate and perpetuate superior material in the tomato." Livingston's first breed of tomato, the Paragon, was introduced in 1870, the beginning of a great tomato culture enterprise in the county. In 1875, he introduced the Acme, which was said to be involved in the parentage of most of the tomatoes introduced by him and his competitors for the next twenty-five years.About Reynoldsburg
ci.reynoldsburg.oh.us When Livingston began his attempts to develop the tomato as a commercial crop, his aim had been to grow tomatoes smooth in contour, uniform in size, and sweet in flavor. He eventually developed over seventeen different varieties of the tomato plant. Today, the crop is grown in every state in the Union. Because of the long growing season needed for this heat-loving crop, several states in the US

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

became major tomato-producers, particularly

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In California, tomatoes are grown under

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

for both the fresh fruit market and for

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although u ...

and processing. The

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

(UC Davis) became a major center for research on the tomato. The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis is a gene bank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic stocks of tomato. The center is named for the late Dr.

Charles M. Rick Charles Madera Rick (30 April 1915 – 5 May 2002) was a plant geneticist and botanist who pioneered research on the origins of the tomato. He was widely regarded as the world's leading authority on tomato biology. Born in 1915 in Reading, PA, R ...

, a pioneer in tomato genetics research. Research on processing tomatoes is also conducted by the California Tomato Research Institute in

Escalon, California Escalon (Spanish: ''Escalón'', meaning "Step") is a city in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 7,132 at the 2010 census, up from 5,963 at the 2000 census. Escalon is a Spanish word meaning "stepping stones." The na ...

. In California, growers have used a method of cultivation called

dry-farming Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the irrigation, non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season (which charges the soil wit ...

, especially with

Early Girl The Early Girl tomato is a medium-sized globe-type hybrid plant, F1 hybrid popular with Residential garden, home gardeners because of its early ripening fruit. Early Girl is a cultivar of tomato with indeterminate growth, which means it produces ...

tomatoes. This technique encourages the plant to send roots deep to find existing moisture in soil that retains moisture, such as clayey soil.

Modern commercial varieties

The poor taste and lack of sugar in modern garden and commercial tomato varieties resulted from breeding tomatoes to ripen uniformly red. This change occurred after discovery of a mutant "u"

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

in the mid 20th century that ripened . This was widely cross-bred to produce red fruit without the typical green ring around the stem on uncross-bred varieties. Prior to general introduction of this trait, most tomatoes produced more sugar during ripening, and were sweeter and more flavorful. Evidence has been found that 10–20% of the total carbon fixed in the fruit can be produced by photosynthesis in the developing fruit of the normal U phenotype. The u genetic mutation encodes a factor that produces defective chloroplasts with lower density in developing fruit, resulting in a lighter green colour of unripe fruit, and repression of sugars accumulation in the resulting ripe fruit by 10–15%. Perhaps more important than their role in photosynthesis, the fruit chloroplasts are remodelled during ripening into chlorophyll-free

chromoplast Chromoplasts are plastids, heterogeneous organelles responsible for pigment synthesis and storage in specific photosynthetic eukaryotes. It is thought that like all other plastids including chloroplasts and leucoplasts they are descended from sym ...

s that synthesize and accumulate the

carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...

lycopene Lycopene is an organic compound classified as a tetraterpene and a carotene. Lycopene (from the neo-Latin ''Lycopersicum'', the tomato species) is a bright red carotenoid hydrocarbon found in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables. Occu ...

β-carotene β-Carotene is an organic, strongly coloured red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids (isoprenoids), synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units and thus having 40 ...

, and other metabolites that are sensory and nutritional assets of the ripe fruit. The potent chloroplasts in the dark-green shoulders of the U phenotype are beneficial here, but have the disadvantage of leaving green shoulders near the stems of the ripe fruit, and even cracked yellow shoulders, apparently because of oxidative stress due to overload of the photosynthetic chain in direct sunlight at high temperatures. Hence genetic design of a commercial variety that combines the advantages of types u and U requires fine tuning, but may be feasible. Furthermore, breeders of modern tomato cultivars typically strive to produce tomato plants exhibiting improved yield, shelf life, size, and tolerance/resistance to various environmental pressures, including disease. However, these breeding efforts have yielded unintended negative consequences on various tomato fruit attributes. For instance, linkage drag is a phenomenon that has been responsible for alterations in the metabolism of the tomato fruit. Linkage drag describes the introduction of an undesired trait or allele into a plant during backcrossing. This trait/allele is physically linked (or is very close) to the desired allele along the chromosome. In introducing the beneficial allele, there exists a high likelihood that the poor allele is also incorporated into the plant. Thus, breeding efforts attempting to enhance certain traits (for example: larger fruit size) have unintentionally altered production of chemicals associated with, for instance, nutritional value and flavor. Breeders have turned to using wild tomato species as a source of alleles for the introduction of beneficial traits into modern tomato varieties. For example, wild tomato relatives may possess higher amounts of fruit solids (which are associated with greater sugar content) or resistance to diseases caused by microbes, such as resistance towards the early blight pathogen ''Alternaria solani''. However, this tactic has limitations, for the incorporation of certain traits, such as pathogen resistance, can negatively impact other favorable phenotypes, such as fruit production.

Cultivation

The tomato is grown worldwide for its edible

s, with thousands of

s. A fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 5–10–10 is often sold as tomato fertilizer or vegetable fertilizer, although manure and compost are also used. On average there are 150,000 seeds in a pound of tomato seeds.

Diseases

Tomato cultivars vary widely in their resistance to disease. Modern hybrids focus on improving disease resistance over the

heirloom plant An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit (Australia and New Zealand), or heirloom vegetable (especially in Ireland and the UK) is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particular ...

s. Various forms of

mildew Mildew is a form of fungus. It is distinguished from its closely related counterpart, mould, largely by its colour: moulds appear in shades of black, blue, red, and green, whereas mildew is white. It appears as a thin, superficial growth consi ...

and

blight Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organ ...

are common tomato afflictions, which is why tomato cultivars are often marked with a combination of letters that refer to specific disease resistance. The most common letters are: LB – ''

late blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "pot ...

'', V – ''verticillium'' wilt, F – ''fusarium'' wilt strain I, FF – ''fusarium'' wilt strain I and II, N – ''

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...

s'', T – ''

tobacco mosaic virus ''Tobacco mosaic virus'' (TMV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus species in the genus ''Tobamovirus'' that infects a wide range of plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteri ...

'', and A – ''

alternaria ''Alternaria'' is a genus of Deuteromycetes fungi. All species are known as major plant pathogens. They are also common allergens in humans, growing indoors and causing hay fever or hypersensitivity reactions that sometimes lead to asthma. They ...

''. A common tomato disease is

. Handling cigarettes and other infected tobacco products can transmit the virus to tomato plants. Another particularly dreaded disease is

curly top Curly Top is a 1935 American musical romantic comedy film starring Shirley Temple, John Boles and Rochelle Hudson. Plot A bachelor wants to adopt an orphan, but she refuses to leave behind her older sister, so he adopts them both. The man even ...

, carried by the

beet leafhopper The beet leafhopper (''Circulifer tenellus''), also sometimes known as ''Neoaliturus tenellus'', is a species of leafhopper which belongs to the family Cicadellidae in the order Hemiptera. Morphology A lot of morphological diversity has be ...

, which interrupts the lifecycle. As the name implies, it has the symptom of making the top leaves of the plant wrinkle up and grow abnormally.

Bacterial wilt Bacterial wilt is a complex of diseases that occur in plants such as Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae (tomato, common bean, etc.) and are caused by the pathogens ''Erwinia tracheiphila'', a gram-negative bacterium, or '' Curtobacterium flaccumfacien ...

is another common disease impacting yield. Wang ''et al.'', 2019 find phage combination therapies reduce that impact, sometimes by reducing bacterial abundance and sometimes by selecting for resistant but slow growing genetics.

Pests

Some common tomato pests are the tomato bug,

stink bugs Stink bug or stinkbug is a common name for several insects and may refer to: * Any of several bugs in the true bug (hemipteran) family Pentatomidae **''Halyomorpha halys'', or brown marmorated stink bug **''Chinavia hilaris'', or green stink bug * ...

cutworm Cutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it ...

tomato hornworm ''Manduca quinquemaculata'', the five-spotted hawkmoth, is a brown and gray hawk moth of the family Sphingidae. The caterpillar, often referred to as the tomato hornworm, can be a major pest in gardens; they get their name from a dark projectio ...

s and

tobacco hornworm ''Manduca sexta'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the Americas. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 '' Centuria Insectorum''. Commonly known as the Carolina sphinx moth and the tobacco hawk m ...

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...

cabbage looper The cabbage looper (''Trichoplusia ni'') is a medium-sized moth in the family Noctuidae, a family commonly referred to as owlet moths. Its common name comes from its preferred host plants and distinctive crawling behavior. Cruciferous vegetable ...

whiteflies Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described. Description and taxonomy The ...

tomato fruitworm ''Helicoverpa zea, ''commonly known as the corn earworm, is a species (formerly in the genus ''Heliothis'') in the family Noctuidae. The larva of the moth ''Helicoverpa zea'' is a major agricultural pest. Since it is polyphagous (feeds on many ...

flea beetle The flea beetle is a small, jumping beetle of the leaf beetle family (Chrysomelidae), that makes up the tribe Alticini which is part of the subfamily Galerucinae. Historically the flea beetles were classified as their own subfamily. Though m ...

red spider mite ''Tetranychus urticae'' (common names include red spider mite and two-spotted spider mite) is a species of plant-feeding mite generally considered to be a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. It ...

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

s, and

Colorado potato beetle The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''), also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, or the potato bug, is a major pest of potato crops. It is about long, with a bright yellow/o ...

s. The tomato russet

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

, ''

Aculops lycopersici ''Aculops lycopersici'', also known as the tomato russet mite, is a species of mite that belongs to the family Eriophyidae. ''Aculops lycopersici'' is an important pest of tomato plants. It was first described by A. M. Massee in 1937 in Australi ...

'', feeds on foliage and young fruit of tomato plants, causing shrivelling and

necrosis Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated dige ...

of leaves, flowers, and fruit, possibly killing the plant. After an insect attack tomato plants produce

systemin Systemin is a plant peptide hormone involved in the wound response in the family Solanaceae. It was the first plant hormone that was proven to be a peptide having been isolated from tomato leaves in 1991 by a group led by Clarence A. Ryan. Si ...

, a

plant peptide hormone Peptide signaling plays a significant role in various aspects of plant growth and development and specific receptors for various peptides have been identified as being membrane-localized receptor kinases, the largest family of receptor-like molecule ...

. Systemin activates defensive mechanisms, such as the production of

protease inhibitors Protease inhibitors (PIs) are medications that act by interfering with enzymes that cleave proteins. Some of the most well known are antiviral drugs widely used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. These protease inhibitors prevent viral replicat ...

to slow the growth of insects. The hormone was first identified in tomatoes, but similar proteins have been identified in other species since.

Other disorders

Although not a disease as such, irregular supplies of water can cause growing or ripening fruit to split. Besides cosmetic damage, the splits may allow decay to start, although growing fruits have some ability to heal after a split. In addition, a deformity called

cat-facing Cat-facing, or catfacing, refers to a type of physiological damage affecting tomato, tomatoes and represented by scarring and cavities near the blossom end. It is the abnormal development of plant tissue affecting the ovary or female sex organ (Pist ...

can be caused by pests, temperature stress, or poor soil conditions. Affected fruit usually remains edible, but its appearance may be unsightly.

Companion plants

Tomatoes serve, or are served by, a large variety of

companion plant Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is the planting of different crops in proximity for any of a number of different reasons, including pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial insects, maximizing use of space, and ...

s. Among the most famous pairings is the tomato plant and carrots; studies supporting this relationship have produced a popular book about

companion planting Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is the planting of different crops in proximity for any of a number of different reasons, including pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial insects, maximizing use of space, and ...

, ''Carrots Love Tomatoes''. The devastating tomato hornworm has a major predator in various

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causin ...

s, whose larvae devour the hornworm, but whose adult form drinks nectar from tiny-flowered plants like

umbellifer Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

s. Several species of umbellifer are therefore often grown with tomato plants, including

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

Queen Anne's lace Queen Anne's lace is a common name for a number of plants in the family Apiaceae. including: * ''Ammi majus'', native in the Nile River Valley * '' Anthriscus sylvestris'', a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant * '' Daucus carota'', ...

, and occasionally

dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

. These also attract predatory flies that attack various tomato pests.

Borage Borage ( or ; ''Borago officinalis''), also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gard ...

is thought to repel the

moth. Plants with strong scents, like

alliums ''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, David ...

(

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

chives Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

mints A mint or breath mint is a food item often consumed as an after-meal refreshment or before business and social engagements to improve breath odor. Mints are commonly believed to soothe the stomach given their association with natural byproducts ...

(

basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a woody perennial pla ...

spearmint Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...

) and French marigold, (''

Tagetes patula ''Tagetes patula'', the French marigold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Mexico and Guatemala with several naturalised populations in many other countries. It is widely cultivated as an easily grown bedding pl ...

'') are thought to mask the scent of the tomato plant, making it harder for pests to locate it, or to provide an alternative landing point, reducing the odds of the pests from attacking the correct plant. These plants may also subtly affect the flavor of tomato fruit.Companion Planting
. Homeandgardensite.com (15 January 2009). Retrieved on 5 September 2013.

Basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...

is popularly recommended as a companion plant to the tomato. Common claims are that basil may deter pests or improve tomato flavor. However, in double-blind taste tests, basil did not significantly affect the taste of tomatoes when planted adjacent to them. Tomato plants can protect

asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified in ...

from

asparagus beetle ''Crioceris'', or asparagus beetle, is a genus of the family Chrysomelidae of beetles. The name is neo-Latin from Greek , ram and , horn. Not all species in the genus ''Crioceris'' feed on asparagus (e.g., ''C. nigropicta''). Some studies have f ...

s, because they contain

solanine Solanine is a glycoalkaloid poison found in species of the nightshade family within the genus ''Solanum'', such as the potato (''Solanum tuberosum''), the tomato (''Solanum lycopersicum''), and the eggplant (''Solanum melongena''). It can occu ...

that kills this pest, while asparagus plants contain

Asparagusic acid Asparagusic acid is an organosulfur compound with the molecular formula C4H6O2S2 and IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry, systematically named 1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid. The molecule consists of a heterocyclic disulfide functional gr ...

that repels

s known to attack tomato plants. Marigolds also repel nematodes.

Pollination

In the wild, original state, tomatoes required cross-

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds ...

; they were much more

self-incompatible Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for several genetic mechanisms that prevent self-fertilization in sexually reproducing organisms, and thus encourage outcrossing and allogamy. It is contrasted with separation of sexes among individuals ...

than domestic cultivars. As a floral device to reduce selfing, the

of wild tomatoes extends farther out of the flower than today's cultivars. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s were, and remain, entirely within the closed corolla. As tomatoes were moved from their native areas, their traditional

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the maj ...

s (probably a species of halictid bee) did not move with them. The trait of self-fertility became an advantage, and domestic

s of tomato have been selected to maximize this trait. This is not the same as

self-pollination Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen from the same plant arrives at the Stigma (botany), stigma of a flower (in flowering plants) or at the ovule (in gymnosperms). There are two types of self-pollination: in autogamy, pollen i ...

, despite the common claim that tomatoes do so. That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in

situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

s. The

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of externally-induced motion. The ideal vibratory frequencies to release pollen grains are provided by an insect, such as a bumblebee, or the original wild halictid pollinator, capable of engaging in a behavior known as

buzz pollination Buzz pollination or sonication is a technique used by some bees, such as solitary bees to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers. The anthers of buzz-pollinated plant species are typically tubular, with an opening at onl ...

, which

honey bees A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmo ...

cannot perform. In an outdoors setting, wind or animals usually provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.

Fruit formation

Pollination and fruit formation depend on

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

. Meiosis is central to the processes by which diploid microspore mother cells within the anther give rise to haploid pollen grains, and megaspore mother cells in ovules that are contained within the ovary give rise to haploid nuclei. Union of haploid nuclei from pollen and ovule (fertilization) can occur either by self- or cross-pollination. Fertilization leads to the formation of a diploid zygote that can then develop into an embryo within the emerging seed. Repeated fertilizations within the ovary are accompanied by maturation of the ovary to form the tomato fruit. Homologs of the ''

recA RecA is a 38 kilodalton protein essential for the repair and maintenance of DNA. A RecA structural and functional homolog has been found in every species in which one has been seriously sought and serves as an archetype for this class of homolog ...

'' gene, including ''

rad51 DNA repair protein RAD51 homolog 1 is a protein encoded by the gene ''RAD51''. The enzyme encoded by this gene is a member of the RAD51 protein family which assists in repair of DNA double strand breaks. RAD51 family members are homologous to th ...

'', play a key role in homologous recombinational repair of DNA during meiosis. A ''rad51'' homolog is present in the anther of tomato (''Lycopersicon esculentum''), suggesting that recombinational repair occurs during meiosis in tomato.

Hydroponic and greenhouse cultivation

Tomatoes are often grown in

s in cooler climates, and cultivars such as the British 'Moneymaker' and a number of cultivars grown in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

are specifically bred for indoor growing. In more

temperate climates In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

, it is not uncommon to start seeds in greenhouses during the late winter for future transplant. Greenhouse tomato production in large-acreage commercial greenhouses and owner-operator stand-alone or multiple-bay greenhouses is on the increase, providing fruit during those times of the year when field-grown fruit is not readily available. Smaller sized fruit (cherry and grape), or cluster tomatoes (fruit-on-the-vine) are the fruit of choice for the large commercial greenhouse operators while the beefsteak varieties are the choice of owner-operator growers.

Hydroponic Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Terrestrial or aquatic plan ...

technique is often used in hostile growing environments, as well as high-density plantings.

Picking and ripening

To facilitate transportation and storage, tomatoes are often picked unripe (green) and ripened in storage with

ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...

. A machine-harvestable variety of tomato (the "square tomato") was developed in the 1950s by

Gordie C. Hanna Gordie C. Hanna (July 1, 1903 – December 23, 1993, known as "Jack" Hanna) was a University of California-Davis agronomy professor who helped revolutionize the tomato-growing industry. He won the John Scott Award in 1976 for his development of a to ...

, which, in combination with the development of a suitable harvester, revolutionized the tomato-growing industry. This type of tomato is grown commercially near plants that process and can tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. They are harvested when ripe and are flavorful when picked. They are harvested 24 hours a day, seven days a week during a 12- to 14-week season, and immediately transported to packing plants, which operate on the same schedule. California is a center of this sort of commercial tomato production and produces about a third of the processed tomatoes produced in the world. In 1994,

Calgene The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...

introduced a

genetically modified tomato A genetically modified tomato, or transgenic tomato, is a tomato that has had its genes modified, using genetic engineering. The first trial genetically modified food was a tomato engineered to have a longer shelf life (the Flavr Savr), which was ...

called the ''

FlavrSavr Flavr Savr (also known as CGN-89564-2; pronounced "flavor saver"), a genetically modified tomato, was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was developed by the Californian company ...

'', which could be vine ripened without compromising

shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...

. However, the product was not commercially successful, and was sold only until 1997.

Yield

The world dedicated 4.8 million hectares in 2012 for tomato cultivation and the total production was about 161.8 million tonnes. The average world farm yield for tomato was 33.6 tonnes per hectare, in 2012. Tomato farms in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

were the most productive in 2012, with a nationwide average of 476 tonnes per hectare, followed by

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

(463 tonnes per hectare) and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

(429 tonnes per hectare)."FAOSTAT: Production-Crops, 2012 data"
''Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations'', August 2014

Records

As of 2008, the heaviest tomato harvested, weighed 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz), was of the cultivar "Delicious", and was grown by Gordon Graham of

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest cit ...

in 1986. The largest tomato plant grown was of the cultivar "Sungold" and reached 19.8 m (65 ft) in length, grown by Nutriculture Ltd (UK) of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK, in 2000. A massive "tomato tree" growing inside the

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando ...

's experimental greenhouses in

Lake Buena Vista, Florida Lake Buena Vista () is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being the mailing address for Walt Disney World—although almost all of the resort facilities, including all four theme parks, are physically located i ...

may have been the largest single tomato plant in the world. The plant has been recognized as a Guinness World Record Holder, with a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and a total weight of .The country's only single vine "tomato tree" growing in The Land pavilion at Epcot
Walt Disney World News It yielded thousands of tomatoes at one time from a single vine. Yong Huang,

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

's manager of agricultural science, discovered the unique plant in Beijing, China. Huang brought its seeds to Epcot and created the specialized greenhouse for the fruit to grow. The vine grew

golf ball A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like g ...

-sized tomatoes, which were served at Walt Disney World restaurants. The tree developed a disease and was removed in April 2010 after about 13 months of life. File:Germinating tomatos.jpg, Tomato plants 7 days after planting File:Tomatoseedlings.jpg, Tomato seedlings growing indoors File:Tomato 27 days from planting seeds.jpg, 27 days after planting File:Tomato fruit and flowers at day 52.jpg, 52-day-old plant, first fruits File:Green Tomatoes.jpg, Tomatoes being collected from the field,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Production

In 2020, world production of tomatoes was 187 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s, with China accounting for 35% of the total, followed by

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and the United States as major producers (table).

Consumption

Though it is botanically a

, a subset of

, the tomato is a

for culinary purposes because of its savoury flavour (see above). Although tomatoes originated in the Americas, they have become extensively used in Mediterranean cuisine. Ripe tomatoes contain significant

flavor and they are a key ingredient in

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

, and are commonly used in

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

sauces. They are also used in

gazpacho Gazpacho (; ) or Gaspacho (), also called Andalusian gazpacho, is a cold soup and drink made of raw, blended vegetables. It originated in the southern regions of the Iberian peninsula and spread into other areas. Gazpacho is widely eaten in S ...

(

Spanish cuisine Spanish cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Spain. Olive oil (of which Spain is the world's largest producer) is heavily used in Spanish cuisine. It forms the base of many vegetable sauces (known in Spanish as ''sofri ...

) and ''

pa amb tomàquet ''Pa amb tomàquet'' () ("Bread with tomato"), is a traditional food of Catalan, Aragonese and Balearic cuisine . ''Pa amb tomàquet'' is considered a staple of Catalan cuisine and identity. While considered a signature toast dish in the Catalan ...

'' (

Catalan cuisine Catalan cuisine is the cuisine from Catalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of Northern Catalonia and Andorra, the second of which has a similar cuisine to that of the neighbouring Alt Urgell and Cerdanya ''comarques'' and which i ...

). The tomato is now grown and eaten around the world. It is used in diverse ways, including raw in

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

s or in slices, stewed, incorporated into a wide variety of dishes, or processed into

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among other ...

tomato soup Tomato soup is a soup with tomatoes as the primary ingredient. It can be served hot or cold, and may be made in a variety of ways. It may be smooth in texture, and there are also recipes that include chunks of tomato, cream, chicken or vegetabl ...

. Unripe green tomatoes can also be breaded and fried, used to make

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

, or pickled. Tomato juice is sold as a

drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies a ...

, and is used in cocktails such as the

Bloody Mary Bloody Mary originally referred to: * Mary I of England (1516–1558), Queen of England and Ireland, so called because of her persecution of Protestants Bloody Mary may also refer to: Film * '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'', a 2005 horror fi ...

Storage

Tomatoes keep best unwashed at

room temperature Colloquially, "room temperature" is a range of air temperatures that most people prefer for indoor settings. It feels comfortable to a person when they are wearing typical indoor clothing. Human comfort can extend beyond this range depending on ...

and out of direct sunlight. It is not recommended to refrigerate them as this can harm the flavour. Tomatoes stored cold tend to lose their flavour permanently. Storing stem down can prolong shelf life, as it may keep from rotting too quickly. Tomatoes that are not yet ripe can be kept in a paper bag till ripening. Tomatoes are easy to preserve whole, in pieces, as

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

or paste by home

. They are

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

ic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as most vegetables require. The fruit is also preserved by drying, often in the sun, and sold either in bags or in jars with oil.

Safety

Plant toxicity

The leaves, stem, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the alkaloid

, whose effect on humans has not been studied. They also contain small amounts of

, a toxic alkaloid found in

leaves and other plants in the

nightshade family The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

. However, solanine concentrations in foliage and green fruit are generally too small to be dangerous unless large amounts are consumed—for example, as greens. Small amounts of tomato foliage are sometimes used for flavoring without ill effect, and the green fruit of unripe red tomato varieties is sometimes used for cooking, particularly as

fried green tomatoes ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' is a 1991 American comedy-drama film directed by Jon Avnet and based on Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel ''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe''. Written by Flagg and Carol Sobieski, and starring Kathy Bates, Jessic ...

. There are also tomato varieties with fully ripe fruit that is still green. Compared to potatoes, the amount of solanine in unripe green or fully ripe tomatoes is low. However, even in the case of potatoes, while solanine poisoning resulting from dosages several times the normal human consumption has been demonstrated, actual cases of poisoning from excessive consumption of potatoes are rare. Tomato plants can be toxic to dogs if they eat large amounts of the fruit, or chew plant material.

''Salmonella''

Tomatoes were linked to seven ''

Salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...

'' outbreaks between 1990 and 2005, and may have been the cause of a

salmonellosis Salmonellosis, more commonly known as food poisoning is a symptomatic infection caused by bacteria of the ''Salmonella'' type. It is also a food-borne disease and are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by a ...

outbreak causing 172 illnesses in 18 US states in 2006. The 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak caused the temporary removal of tomatoes from stores and restaurants across the United States and parts of Canada, although other foods, including

jalapeño The jalapeño ( , , ) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. A mature jalapeño chili is long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scovi ...

and

serrano pepper The serrano pepper (''Capsicum annuum'') is a type of chili pepper that originated in the mountainous regions of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo. The name of the pepper is a reference to the mountains ('' sierras'') of these regions ...

s, may have been involved.

Nutrition

A raw tomato is 95% water, contains 4%

carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...

, and has less than 1% each of

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

and

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

(table). In a reference amount, raw tomatoes supply 18 kilo

calories The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

and are a moderate source of

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) an ...

(17% of the

Daily Value The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of health ...

), but otherwise have no significant

micronutrient Micronutrients are nutrient, essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for exam ...

content (table).

Research

There is no conclusive evidence to indicate that the

in tomatoes or in supplements affects the onset of

cardiovascular diseases Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. In the United States, supposed health benefits of consuming tomatoes, tomato products or lycopene to affect cancer cannot be mentioned on packaged food products without a qualified

health claim A health claim on a food label and in food marketing is a claim by a manufacturer of food products that their food will reduce the risk of developing a disease or condition. For example, it is claimed by the manufacturers of oat cereals that oat ...

statement. In a scientific review of potential claims for lycopene favorably affecting DNA, skin exposed to

ultraviolet radiation Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

, heart function and vision, the

European Food Safety Authority The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002, ...

concluded that the evidence for lycopene having any of these effects was inconclusive.

Host plant

The Potato Tuber moth (''

Phthorimaea operculella ''Phthorimaea operculella'', also known as the potato tuber moth or tobacco splitworm, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is an oligophagous insect that feeds on the plant family Solanaceae and is especially known for being a major pest of ...

'') is an oligophagous insect that prefers to feed on plants of the family Solanaceae such as tomato plants. Female ''P. operculella'' use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the

mesophyll A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

of the leaf.

In popular culture

The town of

Buñol Buñol (Valencian: ''Bunyol'') is a town and municipality in the province of Valencia, Spain. The municipality has an area of some 112 km², and is situated approximately 38 km west of the provincial and autonomous community capital city ...

, Spain, annually celebrates

La Tomatina ''La Tomatina'' () is a festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national h ...

, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight. On 30 August 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered to throw of tomatoes at each other in the

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

Arrojando tomates desde un camión - La Tomatina 2010

Several US states have adopted the tomato as a state fruit or vegetable (see above). Tomatoes have been designated the state vegetable of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

took both sides by declaring the ''South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato'' both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its culinary and botanical classifications. In 2009, the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

passed a law making the tomato the state's official fruit. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. Alexander W. Livingston, of

Reynoldsburg, Ohio Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. The population was 41,076 at the 2020 census. History Reynoldsburg was originally ...

, played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 19th century; his efforts are commemorated in Reynoldsburg with an annual Tomato Festival.

was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food licensed for human consumption. Tomatkarnevalen i Närpes 1993c

Tomatoes are a popular "nonlethal" throwing weapon in mass protests, and there was a common tradition of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad performers on a stage during the 19th century; today this is usually referenced as a metaphor. Embracing it for this protest connotation, the Dutch Socialist party adopted the tomato as their logo. The US city of

calls itself "The Birthplace of the Tomato", claiming the first commercial variety of tomato was bred there in the 19th century. "

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

" is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The name "Rotten Tomatoes" derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a poor stage performance.

Gallery

File:Heirloom tomatoes.jpg, Various

heirloom tomato An heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato in the United Kingdom, UK) is an Open pollination, open-pollinated, non-hybrid heirloom plant, heirloom cultivar of tomato. They are classified as family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heir ...

(UK: heritage tomato) cultivars File:Photo of various homegrown tomatoes.jpg, Homegrown multicolored tomatoes File:Heirlooms.jpg, A variety of cultivars, including

Brandywine Brandywine may refer to: Food and drink *Brandy, a spirit produced by distilling wine *Brandywine tomato, a variety of heirloom tomato Geographic locations Canada * Brandywine Falls Provincial Park, British Columbia * Brandywine Mountain, British ...

(biggest red),

Black Krim The Black Krim (also known as Black Crimea and Noire de Crimée) is an heirloom tomato originating from Crimea. The plant is open-pollinated, indeterminate, bearing 8 ounce flattened globe fruits that are dark reddish-purple to black with gree ...

(lower left) and

Green Zebra Green Zebra is a tomato cultivar with characteristic dark green and yellow stripes. Newer variations blush reddish instead of yellow when ripe. It is more tart (described as 'spicy' and 'zingy') than a regular tomato, and it is an early cultivar ...

(top left) File:Red Tomatoes with PLU code.jpg, Red tomatoes with PLU code in a supermarket.

References

External links

Tomato Genome Sequencing Project
– Sequencing of the twelve tomato chromosomes.
Tomato core collection database
– Phenotypes and images of 7,000 tomato cultivars {{Authority control Crops originating from Mexico Crops originating from indigenous Americans Crops originating from the Americas Fruit vegetables Fruits originating in North America Fruits originating in South America Plants described in 1753 Solanum