Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

The age-old question, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? The answer is, a tomato is a fruit.

Botanically speaking, a fruit is the mature ovary of a flowering plant, usually containing seeds. A tomato meets this definition, as it is the ripened ovary of a tomato plant, and contains seeds inside. However, in culinary terms, a tomato is typically used as a vegetable. This is because it is used in savory rather than sweet dishes, and is often cooked rather than eaten raw.

The confusion around whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable has been the subject of debate and even legal cases. In 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled that a tomato should be classified as a vegetable for the purposes of taxation. This was because, at the time, vegetables were taxed while fruits were not.

So, to sum it up, a tomato is a fruit, but it is often used as a vegetable in cooking.