Herb. No. 187 · Solanaceae
Andean origin; now a summer crop wherever frost takes a holiday.
Native · South America
Native Also grownNow a garden plant worldwide
LegalGentleplant
Tomato
Solanum lycopersicum
Fruit & vegetableHarvestCompanions
The kitchen-garden berry we treat as a vegetable — acid, sweet, and the color of a summer table.
Tomato is a South American nightshade that the world cooked into a cuisine. Ripe fruit is food. Traditional Mediterranean and Mexican kitchens treat it as a daily acid, not a medicine. Leaves and stems are not soup. Culinary amounts of ripe fruit are the path; unripe fried green tomatoes are a Southern habit, not a pot of leaf tea.
Flavor
Acid, sugar, a little green stem. Heirlooms taste of the variety; a winter hothouse tastes of the box.
Parts used
Ripe fruit
Helpful
- Easy from a transplant
- A true summer crop
Cautions
- Late blight in wet years
- Leaf is not food
- Acid can bother reflux