Is Tomatoes Man Made : Tomatoes

“10 Shockingly Man-made Fruits, Nuts and Vegetables We Didn't

These are man-made hybrids created through a selective breeding process in which only favourable plants with good characteristics are replanted to reproduce and become food.But in some instances, insects like bees, are responsible for creating the hybrids through a process called cross-pollination.Long ago, wild bananas (the musa balbisiana) had large hard seeds.Where it came from is unknown to many of us as shockingly, the biological origins of this food remains a mystery.Some experts linked corn’s existence to teosinte, a Mexican grass, which has skinny ears and few dozens of kernels inside its casing.A Cornell University graduate, George W. Beadle, discovered that teosinte kernels pop.He later concluded that these plants were related and won the Nobel Prize for his “Genetics” work.Today, we can find so many varieties of this nutritious fruit, loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibre.In fact, a herbarium sheet circa 1542-1544 shows the oldest conserved tomatoes of Europe.Long ago, today’s tomato’s ancestors had small yellow or green fruit.According to the virtual World Carrot Museum, Romans and Greeks grew the vegetables for food.Later, researchers discovered that early settlers in South America brought the Arachis duranensis from the valleys when they travelled to modern Bolivia some 10,000 years ago.It was a good thing that the bees did the cross-pollination between the two plants — resulting in the modern food, peanut.While the French were able to create wild strawberries, which were up to 20 times their normal size, they were still tiny.And even if the history of the orange is unclear, many believed that the first one grew in Southern China.[Tidbit: A tangerine is unlike the orange and not considered as one because it evolved from the mandarin, only not from the pomelo.].Share this post and spread this interesting bit of information on social media today! .

Tomato

The specific name lycopersicum (from the 1753 book Species Plantarum) is of Greek origin (λύκοπερσικων; lykopersikon), meaning 'wolf peach'.[citation needed] In this capacity, it has even become an American and British slang term: saying " " when presented with two choices can mean "What's the difference?".Indeterminate types are "tender" perennials, dying annually in temperate climates (they are originally native to tropical highlands), although they can live up to three years in a greenhouse in some cases.Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs.Their flowers, appearing on the apical meristem, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style.[12] As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls.The fruit contains hollow spaces full of seeds and moisture, called locular cavities.On the other hand, hybrids of tomato and diploid potato can be created in the lab by somatic fusion, and are partially fertile,[19] providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.[23] The latest reference genome published in 2021 had 799 MB and encodes 34,384 (predicted) proteins, spread over 12 chromosomes.The first commercially available genetically modified food was a tomato called Flavr Savr, which was engineered to have a longer shelf life.Scientists are continuing to develop tomatoes with new traits not found in natural crops, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses or better flavor.These efforts have resulted in significant regionally adapted breeding lines and hybrids, such as the Mountain series from North Carolina.Encyclopedia Britannica, tomatoes are a fruit labeled in grocery stores as a vegetable due to (the taste) and nutritional purposes.According to, tomatoes are a fruit labeled in grocery stores as a vegetable due to (the taste) and nutritional purposes.[28] Tomatoes are not the only food source with this ambiguity; bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados, and squashes of all kinds (such as courgettes/zucchini and pumpkins) are all botanically fruit, yet cooked as vegetables.The confusion on whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables has led to legal dispute in the United States.In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables, but not on fruit, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance.[30] The holding of this case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff of 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes.The wild ancestor of the tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, is native to western South America.[31] The first evidence of domestication points to the Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica, who used the fruit fresh and in their cooking.In France, Italy and northern Europe, the tomato was initially grown as an ornamental plant.It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a nightshade, a relative of the poisonous belladonna.The exact date of domestication is unknown; by 500 BC, it was already being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas.[34]: 13 The Pueblo people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination.[36] Bernardino de Sahagún reported seeing a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at Tenochtitlán (Mexico City): ".The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who suggested that a new type of eggplant had been brought to Italy that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil.It was not until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as pomi d'oro, or "golden apples".The recorded history of tomatoes in Italy dates back to at least 31 October 1548, when the house steward of Cosimo de' Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, wrote to the Medici private secretary informing him that the basket of tomatoes sent from the grand duke's Florentine estate at Torre del Gallo "had arrived safely".[citation needed] Tomatoes were grown mainly as ornamentals early on after their arrival in Italy.For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty", and were grown only in gardens or flower beds.The tomato's ability to mutate and create new and different varieties helped contribute to its success and spread throughout Italy.[40] In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration, until it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century.Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597, and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England.Nonetheless, he believed it was poisonous (in fact, the plant and raw fruit do have low levels of tomatine, but are not generally dangerous; see below).Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain and its North American colonies.Even today, in Bengal, the alternative name is "Biliti Begun" (Bengali: বিলিতি বেগুন), meaning "Foreign Eggplant" It was then adopted widely as it is well suited to India's climate, with Uttarakhand as one of the main producers[citation needed].The tomato was introduced to cultivation in the Middle East by John Barker, British consul in Aleppo circa 1799 to 1825.The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina.Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plants than as food.[34]: 28 Some early American advocates of the culinary use of the tomato included Michele Felice Cornè and Robert Gibbon Johnson.Early tomato breeders included Henry Tilden in Iowa and a Dr. Hand in Baltimore.Alexander W.

Livingston receives much credit for developing numerous varieties of tomato for both home and commercial gardeners.[48] The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1937 yearbook declared that "half of the major varieties were a result of the abilities of the Livingstons to evaluate and perpetuate superior material in the tomato.".Because of the long growing season needed for this heat-loving crop, several states in the US Sun Belt became major tomato-producers, particularly Florida and California.In California, tomatoes are grown under irrigation for both the fresh fruit market and for canning and processing.[52] The center is named for the late Dr. Charles M.

Rick, a pioneer in tomato genetics research.This change occurred after discovery of a mutant "u" phenotype in the mid 20th century that ripened "u"niformly.This was widely cross-bred to produce red fruit without the typical green ring around the stem on uncross-bred varieties.Prior to general introduction of this trait, most tomatoes produced more sugar during ripening, and were sweeter and more flavorful.Hence genetic design of a commercial variety that combines the advantages of types u and U requires fine tuning, but may be feasible.[58][59] However, these breeding efforts have yielded unintended negative consequences on various tomato fruit attributes.For instance, linkage drag is a phenomenon that has been responsible for alterations in the metabolism of the tomato fruit.Linkage drag describes the introduction of an undesired trait or allele into a plant during backcrossing.Thus, breeding efforts attempting to enhance certain traits (for example: larger fruit size) have unintentionally altered production of chemicals associated with, for instance, nutritional value and flavor.However, this tactic has limitations, for the incorporation of certain traits, such as pathogen resistance, can negatively impact other favorable phenotypes, such as fruit production.Another particularly dreaded disease is curly top, carried by the beet leafhopper, which interrupts the lifecycle.As the name implies, it has the symptom of making the top leaves of the plant wrinkle up and grow abnormally.Systemin activates defensive mechanisms, such as the production of protease inhibitors to slow the growth of insects.Although not a disease as such, irregular supplies of water can cause growing or ripening fruit to split.In addition, a deformity called cat-facing can be caused by pests, temperature stress, or poor soil conditions.Several species of umbellifer are therefore often grown with tomato plants, including parsley, Queen Anne's lace, and occasionally dill.As a floral device to reduce selfing, the pistil of wild tomatoes extends farther out of the flower than today's cultivars.That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebees.[81] The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species.In an outdoors setting, wind or animals usually provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.Meiosis is central to the processes by which diploid microspore mother cells within the anther give rise to haploid pollen grains, and megaspore mother cells in ovules that are contained within the ovary give rise to haploid nuclei.Fertilization leads to the formation of a diploid zygote that can then develop into an embryo within the emerging seed.In more temperate climates, it is not uncommon to start seeds in greenhouses during the late winter for future transplant.In 1994, Calgene introduced a genetically modified tomato called the FlavrSavr, which could be vine ripened without compromising shelf life.As of 2008, the heaviest tomato harvested, weighed 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz), was of the cultivar "Delicious", and was grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986.The plant has been recognized as a Guinness World Record Holder, with a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and a total weight of 522 kg (1,151 lb).[91][full citation needed] It yielded thousands of tomatoes at one time from a single vine.Yong Huang, Epcot's manager of agricultural science, discovered the unique plant in Beijing, China.Huang brought its seeds to Epcot and created the specialized greenhouse for the fruit to grow.The vine grew golf ball-sized tomatoes, which were served at Walt Disney World restaurants.In 2020, world production of tomatoes was 187 million tonnes, with China accounting for 35% of the total, followed by India, Turkey, and the United States as major producers (table).Though it is botanically a berry, a subset of fruit, the tomato is a vegetable for culinary purposes because of its savoury flavour (see above).Ripe tomatoes contain significant umami flavor and they are a key ingredient in pizza, and are commonly used in pasta sauces.It is used in diverse ways, including raw in salads or in slices, stewed, incorporated into a wide variety of dishes, or processed into ketchup or tomato soup.The leaves, stem, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the alkaloid tomatine, whose effect on humans has not been studied.[33] They also contain small amounts of solanine, a toxic alkaloid found in potato leaves and other plants in the nightshade family.Compared to potatoes, the amount of solanine in unripe green or fully ripe tomatoes is low.100 g of raw tomatoes supply 18 kilocalories and are a moderate source of vitamin C (17% of the Daily Value), but otherwise have no significant nutrient content (table).There is no conclusive evidence to indicate that the lycopene in tomatoes or in supplements affects the onset of cardiovascular diseases or cancer.[106] In a scientific review of potential claims for lycopene favorably affecting DNA, skin exposed to ultraviolet radiation, heart function and vision, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the evidence for lycopene having any of these effects was inconclusive.Female P. operculella use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the mesophyll of the leaf.The town of Buñol, Spain, annually celebrates La Tomatina, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight.Flavr Savr was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food licensed for human consumption. .

Are tomatoes naturally unnatural?

The news GM Tomatoes are being grown in Canada broke on the BBC late last week.More interesting is the other side of the argument, that non-GM tomatoes are natural, which makes a kind of sense, but is odd when you look closely.Bai and Lindhout point out that developing tomato hybrids is an extremely competitive business with cultivars having a turnover of five years.Bai and Lindhout also anticipated the interest in the many wild Solanum as a source of genetic diversity for tomatoes.The best archaeobotanical remains in Mesoamerica found in places that aren’t suitable for the wild crops to grow so the early domesticates appear divorced from their origins (Pickersgill 2007).To make things more complicated, most genetic diversity for tomato is found in South America, but domestication seems to have been in Mesoamerica.This intense examination of plants potentially means a future of what Vaughan, Balázs and Heslop-Harrison (2007) call ‘super-domestication’.It combines both futuristic genetic analysis and a look back to the traditional methods of farming through ethnobotany, but the reason it has promise for the future is that it acknowledges the work that earlier generations in creating unnatural varieties of crops people would want to eat.In 2007 Annals of Botany published a special issue on crop domestication, which you can read with Open Access. .

If You Can Only Grow One Thing This Summer, Make it Tomatoes

For the past––I'm not EXACTLY sure on the time here––30+ years, Dan has grown tomato plants from seed beginning in the very early Spring.And when he hears that you have even a passing interest in the garden, he comes by with three plants––one of each of the varietals he grows––along with a laminated sheet of paper with information about each of the plants.My home is so infested with deer and wildlife that anything I tried to plant without the protection of high, strong fence and ground-level barriers of some kind would be eaten out of the ground.If that means a rare varietal of a certain kind of flower, a bloom of colorful tulips or the bounty of vegetation that you can grow onto your plate, it's the produce of a garden that makes it worthwhile.I thought of Rene Redzepi's ancient carrots and the Italian obsession with fresh fava beans and delicately friend squash blossoms and myriad other examples of something that comes out of the garden that blows away anything you can usually get your hands on.It is a perfect encapsulation of the economy of the land: put in some sweat, some attention and some respectful thought, and what comes to you is a bounteous miracle that is more like a gift than it is a product. .

Cherry tomato

Although usually red, other colours such as yellow, green, purple, and black also exist.The cherry tomato is regarded as a botanical variety of the cultivated berry, Solanum lycopersicum var.The first direct reference to the cherry tomato appears in 1623, in a work called Pinax theatri botanici (English: Illustrated exposition of plants) by Swiss botanist Caspar Bauhin, which contains descriptions and classifications of approximately six thousand species.The Tomaccio tomato was developed by Nahum Kedar and Chaim Rabinovitch of the Agriculture Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on its Rehovot Campus.The Super Sweet 100 is a hybrid cultivar popular in the United States and resistant to both Fusarium and Verticillium wilt.The indeterminate hybrid sungold cherry tomato is known for its vigorous early-yielding plants and colorful orange fruits. .

Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years

A nickname for the fruit was the “poison apple” because it was thought that aristocrats got sick and died after eating them, but the truth of the matter was that wealthy Europeans used pewter plates, which were high in lead content.Before the fruit made its way to the table in North America, it was classified as a deadly nightshade, a poisonous family of Solanaceae plants that contain toxins called tropane alkaloids.Like similar fruits and vegetables in the solanaceae family—the eggplant for example, the tomato garnered a shady reputation for being both poisonous and a source of temptation.But what really did the tomato in, according to Smith’s research, was John Gerard’s publication of Herball in 1597 which drew heavily from the agricultural works of Dodoens and l’Ecluse (1553).According to Smith, most of the information (which was inaccurate to begin with) was plagiarized by Gerard, a barber-surgeon who misspelled words like Lycoperticum in the collection’s rushed final product.Gerard’s opinion of the tomato, though based on a fallacy, prevailed in Britain and in the British North American colonies for over 200 years.In the early 16th century, Spanish conquistadors returning from expeditions in Mexico and other parts of Mesoamerica were thought to have first introduced the seeds to southern Europe.By 1822, hundreds of tomato recipes appeared in local periodicals and newspapers, but fears and rumors of the plant’s potential poison lingered.According to The Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs and Cultivator Almanac (1867) edited by J.J. Thomas, it was believed that a mere brush with such a worm could result in death.The tomato in all of our gardens is infested with a very large thick-bodied green worm, with oblique white sterols along its sides, and a curved thorn-like horn at the end of its back.Around the same time period, a man by the name of Dr.