Vegetable or fruit? The confused tomato. | OpenRice 新加坡開飯喇

Tomatoes are something that you commonly see in the vegetable section in a supermarket, but yet not many people know that it is actually a fruit! This is because tomatoes are formed from flowers, being technically berries. But because they have less sugar content, they aren’t as sweet as regular fruits. Tomatoes have found their way into all forms of cooking and dishes, becoming an important main ingredient or even as a supporting flavour. They can be eaten raw as sliced ripe tomatoes in a salad, or used to stew beef in a tomato broth which imparts a delicious aroma. The tomato first originated in South America, cultivated by the Aztecs and which is where its name came from, as the Aztecs called it the tomatl – “the swelling fruit”. Eventually the Spanish came to colonize the Americas and in doing so spread the tomato to their colonies in the Caribbean and Philippines, the latter helping to further spread the tomato into South-east Asia. Finally the tomato ended up in the Mediterranean and eventually the rest of Europe. The breeding and cultivation of tomatoes all over the world led to many various types of tomatoes appearing. They come in all sizes; the smallest ones are cherry tomatoes which are sweet and typically used in salads, while the largest ones are the beefsteak tomatoes, used typically as fillings in sandwiches. The variety between tomatoes is also huge, with different applications such as plum tomatoes being used to make tomato pastes as they have less seeds and more solid content. Globe tomatoes are the common generic and nameless tomato that you see in supermarkets with a mild taste that is good for grilling.

Tomatoes contains lycopene, a carotenoid that helps reduce the risk of cancer!

Tomatoes are also extremely good for your health, due mainly to the lycopene present in them. Lycopene is a carotenoid which has strong anti-oxidant properties that help to reduce the risk of cancer. Although other vegetables also have lycopene, only tomatoes have a very high concentration of it. Besides this, tomatoes also have lots of vitamin A, C and K, which we’re all aware of how good those are for the body. In cooking, the tomatoes play a major role in Italian cooking, most commonly found in their pasta sauces and used as the base for their pizzas. However tomatoes are also used to stew together with meats or fish as they impart that fruity sweet flavour, characteristic of Italian cuisine. They also make for great and easy appetizers, and I have this simple broiled tomato recipe for you to try.

Simple broiled tomato

In Spain, tomatoes are also found in a lot of their regional dishes, such as the famous pa amb tomàquet, which is a Catalan style of preparing tomato bread, and gazpacho, another famous Andalusian dish which is basically a chilled tomato soup popular in summer. I gave a shot at making it over here!

Gazpacho, another famous Andalusian dish

In Asia, one can find tomatoes being used by the Chinese to make their classic sweet and sour meat dishes, or occasionally to subtly flavour steamed dishes. In India, they have been incorporated into tomato-based curries such as the butter chicken curry but here I have a recipe for a refreshing lassi drink that uses tomatoes.

Refreshing lassi drink

That’s all for this month! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about how tomatoes came to be and spread around the world to become part of so many dishes that you’ve probably had before. I hope you’ll try some of the recipes I’ve shared and let me know what you think of them! --- Stil not sure what to do with essential ingredients like eggs, tomatoes, etc? Check out other articles at OpenRice Ingredients where you can find out more on how to cook up a storm with these essential ingredients! Have fun! Clean options for the health conscious Be sure to check out these Western dishes if you're looking a treat