It is only fitting that we talk about this fruit (yes it is, in case you didn’t know), seeing how we are currently in the middle of a tomato drought in Nigeria, one so bad that the Federal Government had to declare a state of emergency in the affected states!
So, what exactly are the facts about tomatoes?
1. Tomatoes are fruits, or to be more specific, berries! This is so because tomatoes are formed from the ripened ovary of a flower, and are seed-bearing. Botanically speaking, cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas, just like tomatoes are vine fruits. But for the sake of simplicity among lay men, they are generally described as vegetables.
2. Believe it or not, tomatoes aren’t always red. They can be yellow, pink, purple, black and even white!
3. The largest single tomato plant in the world covers an area of 56.73 square metres, and can be found at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA. It covers an area that’s bigger than an Olympic size swimming pool!
4. It is thought that tomatoes originally came from Peru, and wild tomatoes can still be found in the region of the Andes mountains.
5. The name for tomatoes in French – pomme d’amore, meaning apple of love – is a reference to their once been regarded as a love food. While it’s earliest name in Europe – pomo d’oro, meaning golden apple – was because the first tomatoes in Europe may originally have been yellow.
6. Did you know that Heinz Tomato Ketchup has a speed limit? If the sauce pours at more than 0.028 metres per hour while it’s in the Heinz Tomato Ketchup factory, it’s considered too watery and rejected!
7. For the daily nutritional needs of an adult human, tomatoes provide 38% of what is needed in vitamin C, 30% in vitamin A, 18% in vitamin K, and contains 0% fats and cholesterol.
8. It is also a rich source of potassium, manganese, vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and other elements.
9. La Tomatina is an annual festival in Spain, where people throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other.
10. The largest ever tomato on record was picked in Oklahoma, USA, in 1986. It weighed over 3.5kg – that’s more than the weight of most newborn babies! In this state of the US, they love tomatoes so much that tomato juice is the official state drink!
11. All parts of the tomato plant, with the exception of its fruit, are actually poisonous. And there are around 10,000 varieties of tomatoes worldwide.
12. Tuta absoluta, which is currently ravaging Nigerian tomato yields is a species of moth known by the common names tomato leafminer and South American tomato moth. It is well known as a serious pest of tomato crops in Europe, South America, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East.
13. Tomato seedlings have been grown in space before!
