Summary: Tomatoes are botanically fruits because they form from a flower and contain seeds. No food straddles the line between fruit and vegetable more famously than the tomato . And while your elementary-school teacher or know-it-all friend may have informed you that tomatoes are technically fruits, the answer isn't so clear-cut. Tomatoes are fruits that are considered vegetables by nutritionists. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Tomatoes, plums, zucchinis, and melons are all edible fruits, but things like maple “helicopters” and floating dandelion puffs are fruits too. The classification of a tomato as a fruit or a vegetable has been a long-standing debate among cooks, botanists, and everyday people. While many of us may think of tomatoes as a vegetable , the truth is that they are, in fact, a type of fruit.
