REGION — Most tomato lovers know that the fruit (yeah, we’ll get to the fruit-vegetable thing in a minute) of their desires did not originate in Italy, as some might guess, but instead in South America well before the conquistadores arrived on the scene. But the Europeans who eventually invaded South America took a shine to tomatoes and brought them back to Europe, where they gradually gained popularity.

In the United States, however, the generally held belief that tomatoes might be poisonous, like other members of the nightshade family, kept most people from eating them until sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century. Some gardening experts believe Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes, and he and his daughters used them in various dishes, but others disagree.

In any case, numerous sources report there was a Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson of Salem, NJ, a tomato booster at the time, who set out to demonstrate that tomatoes were safe and delicious. On September 26, 1820, he ate a basketful of tomatoes on the lawn of the courthouse in Salem in front of a crowd of some 2,000 people. Suffering no ill effects, the story goes, his act of tomato indulgence proved to Americans that tomatoes were not bad for human health, and tomatoes made their way into kitchens across the country.

Now back to the question of whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. This quote comes from www.livescience.com: “Botanically speaking, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. By those standards, seedy outgrowths such as apples, squash and, yes, tomatoes are all fruits, while roots such as beets, potatoes and turnips, leaves such as spinach, kale and lettuce, and stems such as celery and broccoli are all vegetables.”

Yet many residents of the United States still consider tomatoes to be a vegetable, and at least part of the reason for that can be directed back to a decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1893. A tomato importer at the time said his tomatoes should not be subject to the 10% import tariff that had been placed on fruits a few years earlier. The court essentially agreed, writing at the time, “Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people… all these are vegetables… which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are… usually served at dinner in, with or after the soup, fish or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert.”

So, the court said, if people customarily served tomatoes as dessert, the common folk might consider them to be fruit, but because they were served with the main meal, most everyone considered them to be vegetables, and never mind the science.

Tomatoes today

Whether you consider them to be fruits or vegetables, just about everyone knows that farm stand and backyard grown tomatoes taste much, much better than the ones sold in grocery store chains. There are two reasons for this. The tomatoes sold in grocery stores are picked when they are still green, and at some point they are exposed to ethylene gas, which is similar to a natural gas produced by tomatoes. This turns the fruit red, but does not add any flavor from the ripening process.

The other reason is that the varieties grown for grocery stores are chosen on the length of their shelf life, and their ability to stave off rotting. Varieties that excel in these two areas usually have less flavor than ones grown by small organic farmers and weekend gardeners who typically care mostly about flavor and not shelf life.

For all tomato growers, there is a choice between hybrid seeds and heirloom seeds. Hybrid seeds come from tomatoes that have been specifically bred to have certain characteristics, and often produce fruits that are pretty much uniform. Heirloom seeds, on the other hand, have been handed down generation after generation, and they offer a mixed bag at harvest time.

One type of heirloom that has become very popular in recent years is the black or purple tomatoes such as Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula and Purple Prudence. These varieties have a taste that is slightly less acidic than classic red ones, with an earthy quality. Some people are put off by the appearance of the black varieties, because even when fully ripe, they often retain green coloring at the top of the tomato. But in the world of today’s tomatoes, looks can be deceiving, and blacks are increasingly sought after by tomato gourmets.

But for pure popularity, the big red or pink heirlooms are still most in demand, with names like Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, Chianti Rose and Beefsteak, and convey the acidic, hearty taste that most people associate with home-grown or small farm-grown tomatoes. This is the season to eat your fill, so take advantage before the first frost ends the party for this year.