Talk:Tomato/Archive 1

Huh?
The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins tobacco, chili peppers, potato, and eggplant.

am i the only one who sees potato listed in this? i am taking it out till it is sourced but i'll leave the others —Preceding unsigned comment added by Weaponbb7 (talk • contribs) 21:07, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, petunias, etc are all in the solanaceae, closely related. tomato and potato in particular are very closely related, so much so that the potato genome project plans to use the tomato genome as a reference sequence to guide assembly. --Krunchky (talk) 03:03, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Fruit or Vegetable
Is this article actually saying that tomatoes are sold as vegetable when importing to the US for profit?

Are Tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable. I can't tell which one it is. Lol. Jaewonnie (talk) 03:55, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Tomatoes are fruit. Fruit is a name given to part of the plant. Tomato plants have small yellow/golden star like flowers. Once the flower is polinated, the tomato forms and swells, like all fruit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.254.66.213 (talk) 00:39, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Nutritional values
What about a break-down of the nutritional values ? Also, a comparsion of its nutritional values with other fruits and vegetables.

The pronunciation conundrum
DASFS dufusUser:PedroPVZ|Pedro]] 22:10, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps it's not all that important but I wouldn't delete it. I would, however, change the wording. It's more than just American verses British. We speak English in Australia too. I'm changing it to North American verses Commonwealth English unless there's any objection. - Jim 23May05
 * Now re-worded, with the word 'dispute' deleted and Commonwealth added - MPF 1 July 2005 13:37 (UTC)

Quote in this section: (note though that Gershwin's spelling "to-mah-to" does not match British English pronunciation) Um, what? I (BrE speaker) see no difference between the 'to-MAA-to' in the paragraph just above this statement in the article and the 'to-mah-to' within. Is there a difference between 'maa' and 'mah' in AmE?(!?) 87.115.228.253 09:25, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * The 'h' in Gershwin's spelling indicates aspiration which is not present in UK English pronunciation - MPF 23:42, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
 * "Ah" in casual American phonetics wouldn't imply aspiration. Rhymes with cot or sock (at least in the "TV dialect"), but probably not in the UK. SB Johnny 14:45, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It doesn't imply any aspiration at all. The  is simply part of a digraph, ; which, as a whole, indicates a vowel.  It matches British (Commonwealth) pronunciation perfectly in "causal phonetics".  Using  instead is just a matter of preference: it would indicate the same vowel ... or should Gershwin have been using the IPA? --Jimp 08:12, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, this is an article about the vegetable, not the word, so the pronunciation section shouldn't be here. Voortle 14:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, it's a famous cultural reference to the vegetable. Certainly not doing any harm to the article to mention it. SB Johnny 14:45, 6 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Since we don't have an article dedicated to the word (cf. Orange (word), this information belongs here. You could create an article for the word, but in the case of Orange, there is a lot to discuss since it has many more meanings, like the color as well as the fruit.  I don't think a separate article on the word Tomato is necessary, since it has only one basic meaning, and the information on the word isn't that long enough to fill an article, then by default, this page becomes an article about both the Vegetable AND the history of the word.  ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 15:54, 6 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree. The bit about pronunciation belongs somewhere on Wikipedia.  There's no better place.  It's not worth its own article. --Jimp 08:12, 19 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I believe there's a third pronunciation, not yet mentioned: ("to-MATT-o"). I'm pretty sure that pronunciation is fairly common in Canada, though I don't have any sources for it just yet. User:Angr 11:17, 19 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree with the difference of pronounciation, for the *ALMIGHTY TOMATO* has many different ways for prouncing it, differing by a persons parlance and way of speaking. --Da.Tomato.Dude 14:37, 1 October 2006 (UTC)


 * From Canada, unless it's a regional thing I'm used to to-MAY-to; to-MATT-o sounds British to me. WLU 22:08, 1 October 2006 (UTC)


 * A Canadian friend of mine certainly uses the "to-MATT-o" variation of pronunciation. I believe it is a minority form of pronunciation though. ie less widely used than the pair of pronunciatons cited by Gershwin. As for the relevance of the pronunciation to the article, I wholeheartedly agree that this article deserves a small section on it. To a non-native speaking English person it may not seem all that important - but if they hear US speakers and Commonwealth speakers they may wonder about it! Also it is of general interest, but not worth its own article. 82.211.95.178 09:10, 10 July 2007 (UTC)


 * i think this article should include the pronunciation. i'm from michigan and most people including myself say 'tom-A-toe' i have also heard 'tom-o-da' and 'tom-A-tu' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.86.179.34 (talk) 17:36, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Hey, you never know when someone might need to use this info. Have you seen the Google Tech Talk "Everything is Miscellaneous"? I recommend you watch it. Peteturtle 09:50, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Let me get this straight: a single 3.5 oz tomato has 20,000 calories in it? An average 1 oz tomato is 6-7,000 calories. How does this make sense? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.67.125.11 (talk) 16:19, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Poisonous
I knew that were regarded as poisonous, but I thought that because of genetic variation, some early strains may have actually been slightly poisonous. Is this wrong? Vintermann

In addition to this, how poisonous is it? Ie. is it just an irritant, ie. like poison ivy, or very lethal? I mean, what about the leaves at the top of a tomato? -- Natalinasmpf 22:57, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that tomatoes are very closely related to another type of plant, called nightshade, which is infact very poisonous. Because of the similarity between the two plants, most people were at first hesitant to eat the tomato.


 * I will say this, though - there is such a thing as a tomato allergy. My mother, for instance, cannot eat them raw, or the skin in her mouth reacts very badly to it, breaking out in painful rashes (oddly, she CAN eat them cooked or processed - fried, or in ketchup for instance - with no problem at all). She's had this allergy since childhood, as has her younger brother. It's possible that people that had that allergy tried it, and due to the allergic reaction, declared it poisonous. Would not surprise me. EDITED SECOND TIME TO ADD LINK (though I did not write the above post, I thought it was worth adding the link, though I did not want to edit another's post, so here it goes): nightshade. 169.139.190.6 20:16, 13 April 2006 (UTC)


 * The leaves of the tomato plant are poisonous. I believe it mainly just makes people sick, rather than being lethal. The only edible part of the plant is the fruit. --Kaz 22:46, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I also recall seeing a reference to the tomato being called 'poison apples' in colonial america, but I don't have a cite for it. There was another thought (but I don't know how accurate it was), that this was because of the acidity of the tomato interacted with the lead pans (Did colonists use lead cookware at that point in time?) ~ender 2006-12-24 10:59:AM MST


 * Tomato mythology
 * I recall reading somewhere that the reason it was believed that tomatoes were toxic, is because when they're eaten on pewter, the acids from the tomato etch the pewter, releasing toxins from the metal. True?
 * Ninjatacoshell 21:52, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

The article asserts that Gerard believed tomatoes to be poisonous, but I looked up the entry in his Herbal and it is not stated in there that they are poisonous, but just that they have little to no nutritional value. Does anyone else have a reliable source for this statement? --CurtisP 22:33, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

South America
I wonder about the history of cultivation of the tomato before the discovery of the Americas by Europeans. Nothing said about consumption of tomatoes in South America before that event, which I think is weird.

There is no use trying to dispute as to how to say it in English since it is not an English word. Tomatl, chocolatl are words that come from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. They made hot sauces with them, now called in Spanish, salsa.


 * I have come across commentary from other forums by Peruvian nationals who claim that the tomato was introduced to Europe by the Inca, but they can't cite any sources for this nor can they explain why the Inca never cultivated it. Also, if they did domesticate it I'm sure it would taste and look a lot different than the tomatillo variety but again there are no sources or even colonial chronicles by the Conquistadors who conversely DID have documents citing both red and green tomatl being sold in Tenochtilan's markets and made into "salsas".--47.156.85.227 (talk) 02:22, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

Species name
I looked it up in ITIS and found Lycopersicon lycopersicum and L. esculentum esculentum - but no L. esculentum. That species is listed under Solanum. What gives? -phma
 * Now covered at Tomato. L. esculentum esculentum is the same as L. esculentum, they are not different names. - MPF 1 July 2005 13:37 (UTC)

Killer tomatoes
Moved from the article as non-encyclopedic:


 * "The reputation of tomatoes has been severely damaged by their appearance in the Killer Tomatoes movies. Few, if any, actual tomatoes have been found to be homicidal." 209.149.235.254 20:10, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * LOL. I think tomatoes are rather suicidal than homicidal. When they become mature, they fall down and crush in the ground. -Pedro 14:10, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * That's not "suicidal", it's reproduction. Tomatoes carry seeds, and the flesh of the fruit, as with most or all fruits, is meant to provide fertilizer for the seeds. That is why they fall to the ground when the tomato matures - because the seeds grow in the ground, not the air. 169.139.190.6 20:20, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I think he was joking

Robert Gibbon Johnson story
It Re: Robert Gibbon Johnson: some people say that this legend is apocryphal. Googling "Robert Gibbon Johnson" shows that some people believe this occurred in 1830, not 1820. Finally, in at least some versions of the anecdote it took place in Salem, NJ, not Salem, MA; the former seems more likely to me. In short, I don't know what's going on, but something seems wrong.
 * I agree - I've always heard Salem, NJ, but I haven't done any research on it. This is on the front page today, Sept. 28, 2004, so now it's really noticeable. Spalding 16:54, Sep 28, 2004 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and changed it while it was still on the front page, based on the number and my perception of the quality of the results in a web search. Spalding 11:54, Oct 10, 2004 (UTC)
 * Added sentence casting doubt on the story, based on searches. Spalding 02:56, Mar 14, 2005 (UTC)

Fruit or vegetable
Good article this morning on WBUR (http://www.wbur.org) about whether a Tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. Conclusion was that botanically it's a fruit, legally (in the US) it's a vegetable. -Bernfarr

This debate seems kind of stupid, since all fruits are also vegetables, aren't they? --Doradus 18:22, Sep 28, 2004 (UTC) Hmmm! I think it is important! The article says that tomatos are berries, which I KNOW isn't true. I'm going to change that.
 * yeah. You just put them in different places in the refrigerator and you use them differently. -Pedro 14:01, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't think that all fruits are also vegetables. fruit is a botanical term, meaning part of the plant. vegetable is a nutritional/culinary. term. vegetables can be from the fruit, leaf, stem, flower, or root, or another part of the plant.

Vegetable is also used as a literary term for any plant: vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom.- I guess that's probably what you meant when you said all fruits were vegetables

Wait how is a tomato legally a vegetable? PatPeter 23:26, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

This may come as a shock, but tomatoes are actually neither fruit nor vegetables - they are terrorists.

In response to unsigned comment above: The article says that tomatos are berries, which I KNOW isn't true. Tomatoes are technically berries. My biology textbook says so. The berry page does not give a particularly clear definition, only that they are an edible fruit with multiple seeds. Will dig out textbook and find out exactly what defines a berry.I am a lemon 00:18, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

According to The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary Of Science, p262, a berry is ; "A fleshy fruit which contains many seeds, e.g. a tomato or a grapefruit." It also says; "True fruit develop purely from the ovary, false fruit develop from the receptacle as well(e.g. a strawberry).". Hope that helps.I am a lemon 22:24, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Knowledge is knowing a Tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to use a Tomato in a fruit salad. Palmiped 22:15, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

"Early" History
The tomato is a new-world fruit. What do we know about its uses in pre-colonized America? The article says: "The first traces of use of tomato as food date back to South Europe in the first half of the 18th century. Only in the second half of the 19th | ]] – Quadell (talk) (help)   03:30, Nov 11, 2004 (UTC)

We know the tomato was eaten in Mexico, but we don't know if it was eaten in Peru. If I were to guess, I would guess it was eaten in Peru, but there is no proof. There seems to have been an exchange in pre-history when Mexico got the tomato and Peru got corn. Zenyu 20:38, Nov 21, 2004 (UTC)


 * Well, neither Mexico nor Peru existed and I'm pretty sure the exchange, if there ever was one by human trade, happened well before the existence of the Aztec/Maya/Inca cultures and empires. There's also the possibility of plants traveling via animals and their feces whether by fauna or avian species. You also have to consider climate events where water runoff from massive flood events could carry seedlings or even entire plants along the coastline. Look up the history of The Galapagos Island tortious and iguana speicies and they've been linked to animals from South America. The theory is that they arrived on flotsom.--47.156.85.227 (talk) 02:30, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

These two sentences seem contradictory to me: "Smith states that the earliest reference to tomatoes in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina." & "This may also be why the first reported use of the tomato in the U.S. was in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1812, because of the French influence in that region." Mbrewer 00:10, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Allyson Hahn
Even Famous botanist Allyson Hahn has wisdom to offer regarding tomatoes. "...We have tomatoes in my backyard and I would not call that a bush. That is a vine." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.130.152.28 (talk) 04:47, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Better info please
What's the usual size of a tomato plant in metres? In the article we have the tallest but what about the usual? How long do the plants live, one year? How they like the soil? rich in what, pooer in what? they like a lot of water? -Pedro 13:35, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * I've added a paragraph at the start giving general details of the species, which were (surprisingly!) not given at all before - MPF 1 July 2005 13:37 (UTC)

Tomatoes need a lot of water but too much will lead to fruit cracking when fruit has set. They prefer well drained sandy loam soils over claylike soils to prevent root rot and aid aeration. It's best to mix organic matter to clay-like soils to give better drainage and stuff. Being fast growers, they like a LOT of nitrogen. There are also two ways it grows: determinate and indeterminate (okay three some cultivars grow something in between). More info is available here: (click on the links). It has an interesting bit of trivia as well:


 * Proper coloring of the fruit is also temperature dependent. Lycopene and carotenes are not synthesized above 85 degrees F and lycopene is not synthesized below 50 degrees F, precluding normal color development in ripening fruit.

Which explains why tomatoes in my country aren't normally red. Sorry I'm not typing it myself, maybe in the future. Responsiblebum 06:11, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Cherry and grape tomatoes?
Heaven knows I'm no vegetable expert, but I think this page could benefit from some info about the smaller varieties of tomato, the cherry and grape varieties. Does anyone have some knowledge in that area? --Marcg106 22:09, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * They have at least a brief mention now - MPF 1 July 2005 13:37 (UTC)
 * Surely you mean cherry and grenade? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.3.0.12 (talk) 16:57, 11 December 2006 (UTC).
 * There are certainly varieties of tomato known as grape in Australia. I am a lemon 00:25, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Extensive Rewrite
I've made substantial changes to the history here based on Andrew F. Smith, "The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery." Smith's book is an extensive discussion of tomato history, including extensive archival research. His timetable for tomato introduction and use, and his refutation of some of the legends are quite convincing.

I've also removed a couple of things. For example, I've taken out the statement that the tomato is related to nightshade. Smith makes no reference to this; on the contrary, he says that the classification fo the tomato was unclear well into the 20th century. If the tomato is related to the nightshade (reference?) it might be worth having in the article; however, this relationship does not seem to have had much, if anything, to do with the belief that the tomato was poisonous (which, in any case, was not very extensive.)

I also plan to remove or greatly decrease the discussion of Jefferson, which was overblown in the earlier version as far as I can tell. If someone has a reference for surviving tomato recipes from Jefferson's daughters, that might be useful; Smith has no discussion of this, which makes me suspect that it may not be accurate. NoahB 5 July 2005 16:26 (UTC)

I ended up mentioning Jefferson, but didn't see that an extensive discussion of his tomato cultivation was necessary -- he wasn't really a pioneer; other people were raising tomatoes as well, and a list of all references to tomato raising in all parts of the country up to the present seems unnecessary and unwieldy.

One thing the article really could use (in my opinion, anyway) is a more extensive discussion of tomato cultivation and distribution in Asia. I don't have time to do it myself, but as it is, the history section is very Western oriented.


 * The relation of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) to the nightshades (Solanum nigrum, S. villosum, S. dulcamara, etc.) is simply that they are in the same genus Solanum (so of course is the potato S. tuberosum). As mentioned, Linnaeus realised this back in 1753, though for a large chunk of subsequent botanical history the tomato was shoved off into a separate genus of its own, until recent genetic studies put it back in Solanum. PS I've moved the Smith publication details down to References, I think it's better there than in the text, so only his name is mentioned in the text. - MPF 5 July 2005 20:04 (UTC)


 * Of the pronunciation comparison, there's a bit of a problem; the written words of Gershwin's song presumably say 'tomahto', whereas the actual UK pronunciation is 'tomaatoe' (no aspiration before the 't', it is '-aat-', not '-ht-'); I earlier corrected the UK pronunciation but left the Gershwin spelling, then an anon editor changed the spellings "to be the same throughout" (which looks neater, but is inaccurate). For the time being, I've changed both to '-aat-', though this leaves the Gershwin spelling wrong. Maybe the Gershwin spelling should be returned to the original, but the '-ht-' shouldn't be in the UK pronunciation. - MPF 5 July 2005 20:04 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up about your changes MPF. They look fine as far as I'm concerned; there's a couple things I need to double check in the Smith book, but I'll probably do that tomorrow. I agree that the info about the nightshade is interesting and worth using. If it were me, I think it might work better in the botanical classification section. You could even mention there that it might be one reason that the tomato was occasionally considered poisonous (if someone could find a source that said that, it would be great, but it might be worth putting in there even without it.) NoahB 7 July 2005 00:35 (UTC)


 * Do not go around radically changing articles based on a single source. You can't assume Smith is correct and all-inclusive, any more than anyone else. The oversight regarding the tomato definitely being in the nightshade family is a prime example; Smith, you say, didn't even mention this, yet it's been a famous bone of contention since the plant got to Europe. If I had time, I'd go back and see what else you messed up. As it is, you need to learn how to do more thorough research. Authority worship is always bad.--Kaz 22:49, 29 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Kaz, many people on Wikipedia radically change articles based on no source at all. I checked websites as well, and collaborated with others on changing the article.  Smith is a standard source; if you have sources that contradict him, please put them in the article and cite them (at least on the talk page.)  In the meantime, you might consider that nothing is "always" anything, that scare quotes for emphasis are an unfortunate stylistic tic, and that the only thing sillier than worshipping authority is knee-jerk rejection of it.  Take care,  NoahB 13:49, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
 * No, authority-worship is a guaranteed wrong. It only coincides with the truth by accident. Think of it as being like the police conducting an illegal search; even if they find something, it should be thrown out as invalid. Again I note that this guy you cite didn't even mention the tomato being in the nightshade family. And, apparently, you couldn't even find a web-based source for this extremely well-known fact, though it seems to be mentioned on every second tomato reference site I visit. --Kaz 18:51, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Extremely well-known by whom? And why are you trusting those web sources?  Or have you done original tomato research yourself?  Authority is the basis for all historical and scientific statements, in one way or another.  Your epistemology is extremely confused...but lecturing one another probably doesn't help the wiki much.  If you have other authorities to bring to the table, be my guest.  Take care.  NoahB 01:06, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Tomato Diseases
It is quite surprising that there is no mention of common tomato diseases like Tomato Mosaic and the like ... the article could do with some more material


 * Good point! And this being Wikipedia, just ask and ye shall receive.  I just punched in Tobacco mosaic, the one disease I know of, and voila, up it came!  A nice article.  There should be a section devoted to culture, so I'll see what I can do. Spalding 16:35, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

These might help Responsiblebum 06:29, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Tomato pict
Is featured on commons as of 23:28, 10 November 2005 (UTC). Bawolff 23:28, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Non-Inclusive Leaf Description
"... each leaflet up to 8 cm long, with a serrated margin"
 * What about the potato leaf varieties? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.234.154.241 (talk • contribs).

Picture
In this article, there's a picture with the caption: "A selection of tomato cultivars showing the variation in shape and color available".

Now, I'm no botanist, but to me, those look a whole lot more like [[bell pepper]s than tomatoes. Does anyone else agree?
 * No, those are tomatoes, mostly older, ribbed heirloom varieties in what looks like a farmer's market in France. They do look a bit like bell peppers in the thumbnail, but if you look at the full picture they are in fact tomatoes. Haikupoet 04:49, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Tongue in cheek tomato statistics
I once read an article written about tomatoes being deadly. I don't know if this was in any way related to the previous belief that tomatoes were dangerous, but was a tongue-in-cheek article using statistics to "prove" that tomatoes were deadly. I don't know where to find this article, but if someone knows it, I think it would be a fun footnote to the controversies section. I am trying to find it and thought it might be here.
 * Doubt it would be a worthwhile addition. Look at DHMO for a similar, but much better, example. - MPF 09:49, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Opening wikibook chapter...
Many of the sections in this article are full of how-to information (good information, but how-to stuff is discouraged on WP). I've opened a chapter in the Wikimanual of Gardening, and will be moving some of that information over in the next few days. SB Johnny 16:26, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


 * The chapter is on the build. I have removed the how-to information from this article. SB Johnny 12:48, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Units
Could someone add the Imperial units in parentheses after the SI units? This would benefit those among us who use inches, feet, etc.
 * Go ahead. Feel free to do it yourself.  That's what Wikipedia is about.  Personally, I prefer metric so I'm not about to do this.  Of course, I've got not problem with its being done, however.  Be careful, though, to keep in mind that some US units are different to Imperial ones.--Jimp 08:21, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

opening redirects
It seems silly to have separate links for Solonaceae and nightshade in the opening sentence, as they both go the same place!

I think you're right! But I'm not going to change this. Somebody might have had an important reason for creating two separate links. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.169.83.107 (talk) 21:29, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Peruvian Apple
I've heard that the Tomato was once known as the Peruvian Apple.
 * Highly doubt that. Where'd you hear that one anyway? ~Ķíķìäţ~

TOMATO IN CHINESE
Ooooooh...in chinese tomato is called "fan che", pronounced "phan chie".

That Big???
Can I see a source or otherwise have explained to me how a tomato grows to be 1-3 METERS in height?

For comparison purposes, a 1m tomato is big enough to reach an average man's stomach.

I'm fairly sure it oughtn't be 1-3 centimeters either, as that seems a bit small for tomatoes. Help please?


 * 1) remember to sign your name
 * 2) they probably mean the tomato plant
 * Kalak5 08:29, 18 December 2006 (UTC)Kalak5

tomatine/solanine
How much tomatine/solanine do tomatoes have? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 89.138.32.24 (talk) 17:15, 23 December 2006 (UTC).

Brought to Europe by Hernan Cortes
Read a snippet in _Salt_ that Hernan Cortes (missing the accent marks) brought the tomato to Europe. ~ender 2006-12-24 10:57:AM MST

Cold Hardiness
Does anyone know the Cold Hardiness rating of a tomato? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.181.119.225 (talk) 01:22, 2 April 2007 (UTC).
 * Tomatoes are generally grown as annuals, and they generally do not tolerate freezing temperatures. HeirloomGardener 19:42, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Tomatoes = Cancer Apples
Tomatoes were often called cancer apples hundreds of years ago. Now apparently it has just been determined that tomatoes are not protective against prostate cancer and are actually associated with aggressive prostate cancer. Someone might want to add that.

http://seattlepi.com/local/316050_tomato17.html


 * A reference has been added to this new data. However, in this new study, the agressive cancer risk was associated with beta-carotene, not lycopene, and thus is not mentioned in the article Tomato. Zzorse 13:09, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

No, lycopene and tomatoes were mentioned specifically as far as aggressive cancer goes:

"Peters and her colleagues not only failed to find a positive association between high levels of the antioxidants and lower rates of prostate cancer, they found that the men who had high blood levels of lycopenes (those who might have eaten lots of tomato products) were the ones with the most aggressive form of prostate cancer"


 * That may be a misquote by the Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter. Here are quotes from the press release:


 * " Most surprisingly, says Peters, was the relationship between increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer – defined as disease that has spread beyond the prostate – and beta-carotene, another antioxidant found in many vegetables and commonly used as a dietary supplement.


 * This unexpected observation "may be due to chance, however beta carotene is already known to increase risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease in smokers," Peters said.


 * "While it would be counter-productive to advise people against eating carrots and leafy vegetables, I would say to be cautious about taking beta carotene supplements, particularly at high doses, and consult a physician," Peters said. "


 * I've not found any other source quoting Peters in regards to lycopene and aggressive prostate cancer. Have you? Zzorse 20:31, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

No I haven't. Seems you are right.

Here is an old article that mentions an earlier study which showed prostate cancers to have 50% more lycopene in the tissue:

http://www.youngagain.org/articles/article_lycopene_is_still_garbage.htm

Hoax?
I'm highly suspicious of the long paragraph under "Tomatoes in France". A monk named "Tiramisunelli"? Can anyone verify the least fact here?--BillFlis 16:08, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I have removed this nonsense also. Apparently added by User:Bockspur in Feb. 2006.--BillFlis 10:56, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Hah! This is mentioned in today's Wall Street Journal (the "Portals" feature in the "Marketplace" section)! They even checked with a professor of botany to confirm the non-existence of Tiramisunelli.--BillFlis 14:32, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Chile
It says "The tomato is native to Central, South, and southern North America from Mexico to Peru", but http://tgrc.ucdavis.edu/chile.doc seems to say wild tomatoes grow in Chile. Should we change this sentence? Art LaPella 17:03, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Chile is, last I checked, part of South America. However reluctant the rest of the continent may be to claim it.--Kaz 19:13, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

"Thrushworthy Bumbletots"
looks like pure rubbish to me - no google results bar wiki! please take it out if no citation found! 87.113.23.96 23:32, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
 * These two sentences were the only contribution to wikipedi by User:12.205.88.244 on 28 May 2006. Removed.--BillFlis 10:29, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Botanical description
To my puzzlement, there was no botanical description of the species in this article, so I added a section and, in a fit of creative juiciness, named it thusly. --Kaz 17:08, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, there was, and it's still there. It was, perhaps, misplaced, under "Controversies."--BillFlis 18:01, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
 * No, that's Botanical Classification, because the classification of it got changed. I meant a scientific description, of the structure of the flowers, leaves, et cetera --Kaz 19:11, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

sundried tomato
how do you sun dry tomatoes and how do you store them? 67.149.186.251 01:22, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, but this page is for discussion about the article and not tomatoes... however, this page might be useful. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 20:13, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Copyright violation
The tomato tree/Wat Disney World piece under the section titled 'Tomato record' is a copyright violation from: http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewImage.aspx?ImageID=101932 Socby19 04:10, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Spelling
Inconsistent spelling of tomato in this article. Sometimes spelt 'tomato', sometimes 'tomatoe'.
 * The plural of tomato is tomatoes. 'Tomatoe' does not appear in the article.  Deli nk 14:20, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Seedless tomatoes
Recently quite a few papers have been published on creating seedless tomatoes through mutations that lead to parthenocarpy (usually through use of auxin). I did a google search and noticed quite a few patents related to this as well. Since this may become a common procedure to produce seedless tomatoes for commercial use does anyone thing that it would warrant a mention? --Deepraine (talk) 01:34, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Tomato Hurricane
does eating a tomato have somthing to do with having a dream about tomato hurricanes invading France and England? 19:56, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

might sound funny but seriuosly 20:50, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

tomato early history
I think it should also be mentioned that wild tomato diversity is considered to locate in Peru, whereas cultivated tomato diversity center, in Mexico. This would suggest that wild tomatoes were introduced to Mexico from Peru and then got domesticated in Mexico. 138.246.7.136 (talk) 13:14, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Quote in the 'Fruit or vegetable?' section
In the Fruit or vegetable? section, I've added the following at the top:

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

I think it's a nice, almost funny quote to use in the article. It's true and in my personal opinion, some variety of style (e.g. light humour) makes the article easier to read. Wikipedia doesn't have to be a lifeless collection of facts, and I would prefer to read an article with some fun in it rather than a list of statistics.

This is just my opinion, and it may be completely wrong, but I (again, personally) would appreciate it if, if you want to remove it, could post your reason(s) here, and I'd have no problem at all :)

Have a great day, Drum guy (talk) 16:36, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Someone vandilized this section...I'm just going to delete what they wrote, as I don't have any accurate info to add. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.187.42.143 (talk) 00:55, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Bad Botany
Tomatoes have leaflets off veins, not leaves. You can tell by the lack of a meristomatic area at the base of each leaflet. (A sucker or branch will only grow at the base of a true leaf.)

The term cultivar, widely used in the article, should not be used so liberally. As a fruit person, I much prefer to use the term to describe genetically identical plants grown from cuttings. A true-breeding heirloom might be called a cultivar. But while hybrids that don't breed true might be a variety, but this use of the term "cultivar" is confusing -- seeds from hybrids produce esssentially random results.

On the other hand, maybe science has changed since I went to school!68.111.71.197 (talk) 08:57, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Salmonella
i added some info about the salmonella outbreak and tomatoes being pulled off the market. i don't know that this section is even necessary, but i thought it should be kept up to date.Eganjt (talk) 14:37, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Article Length
This article, particularly the "History and distribution section is far too long. I suggest that we remove a lot of the trivia, there's no need for separate large sections for Spain (which also has info about Italy), Britain, North America and Production Trends (which shouldn't even be in History and distribution). I suggest instead having a couple of sentences summarising each of these sections, for example:

''Andrew F Smith's The Tomato in America asserts that the tomato probably originated in the highlands of the west coast of South America, however was not used as a foodstuff before the arrival of the Spanish. After the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the tomato spread throughout their colonies in the Caribbean, and then onto the Asian continent. The Tomato also returned to Europe with the Spanish, and grew comfortably in the mediterranean climate, being cultivated on the mainland and then Britain in the mid-to-late 1500s.......''

At the moment the article is just regurgitating this "The Tomato in America". -Toon05 20:13, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Wolf-peach explanation wrong?
According to the referenced article, the name wolf-peach comes from old German folklore:

Old German folklore has it that witches used plants of the nightshade family to evoke werewolves, a practice known as lycanthropy. The common German name for tomatoes translates to "wolf peach", and was avoided for obvious reasons. In the 18th century Carl Linnaeus conjured up binomial nomenclature to name species, and took note of this legend when he named the tomato Lycopersicon esculentum, which literally means, "edible wolf peach" (ref. 1)

Reference 1 is From Wolf Peach to Outer Space., here's the relevant quote:

Or I might have called the tomato a wolf peach, from its genus name Lycopersicon, a reflection of a long-held belief that the tomato—a member of the nightshade family—was poisonous. That view was largely the result of Renaissance botanists, who, relying on Greek and Roman texts, misidentified and misclassified the tomato. Their errors were copied by popular 16th-century English herbalists, such as John Gerard, who saw no contradiction in writing that while Spaniards and Italians ate tomatoes, the plant was nevertheless "of ranke and stinking savour." --Ole Laursen (talk) 22:03, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Vandalised
Someone's changed the page titled to ..ŧŧA....G....G....E....R??., I dunno how to get rid of it... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.5.97.136 (talk) 16:06, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Unripe tomatoes used in Salsa?
I am somewhat skeptical of the claim that unripe tomatoes are used in salsa (currently one section of the Tomato page claims "Unripe green tomatoes can also be used to make salsa, be breaded and fried, or pickled.")

Most of the green salsa one finds ("salsa verde") is actually made from the tomatillo -- a fruit related to the tomato which is often green when ripe (see other wikipedia articles for more info). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mschures (talk • contribs) 21:54, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Pollination
It appears there is some additional pollination information in Talk:bumblebee, but I haven't compared the two point by point. ~ender 2008-11-22 14:24:PM MST

"poisonous" aubergine
The first graf of this article says that the tomato is related to eggplant as well as two poisonous plants, belladonna and aubergine. Aubergine is synonymous with eggplant though. Can someone clear this up? Is there another nightshade that should be swapped in? Or is it vandalism or what? Rkaufman13 (talk) 15:55, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The terms are used interchangeably, but in some contexts aubergine refers to a different species of eggplant. // roux   17:22, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, but aubergine redirects to eggplant, and there's nothing on that page about how certain eggplant/aubergine species are poisonous. I'll take the discussion over there if we can ensure that there really is a poisonous aubergine and that it should be included on that page?Rkaufman13 (talk) 17:43, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Can you smoke them?
I've heard and read that tomatoes contain small amounts of tobacco. Is it safe to smoke them? How does nicotine content compare? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.255.69.192 (talk) 01:35, 17 June 2009 (UTC)