I don't know if you can tell the differenceTomatoes (millennial fruit) and cherry tomatoesIf you treat them as the same food, then you will find them, whether it is a fruit store or a vegetable market.
See if it's millennial or cherry tomatoes.
Actually, they are indeed all tomatoes, that isTomatoesIt's just because of the different varieties that it has a different name and taste.
Now people are commonTomatoes as a type of vegetable, used to cook a variety of dishes, but the taste is obviously not as good as before.
And actually tomatoesIt was first used as a tasty fruit, loved by people.
Next, let's find out what tomatoes have experienced from fruits to vegetables, from delicious to unpalatable?
First, let's take a look at how tomatoes should be defined.
What the hell are tomatoes?
In botany, there is no strict definition of fruits and vegetablesDifferent parts of a plantCalled vegetables, such as cabbage, spinach, etc.
WhileA plant organ with seeds in a plant, called a fruit, such as oranges, apples, etc.
But actually, a lot of fruits are now available as vegetables, and vegetables can also be used as fruits.
Take itWatermelonIn 2008, China's Food and Drug Administration compiled the Codex Alimentarius (Volume II).It belongs to the group of vegetables - zucchini fruits
Is watermelon a vegetable?
But in fact, we often eat watermelon pulp as a fruit, whileThe leftover watermelon rind can indeed be used for stir-frying
In short, the difference and definition of vegetables and fruits are still vague, so everyone may have a different understanding of whether tomatoes are vegetables or fruits.
However, Americans do now use tomatoes as a type of vegetable, and this is involvedBenefitsFinish.
Let's first take a look at the history of tomatoes and see how they changed from fruits to vegetables.
Tomatoes were forced to become vegetables.
The history of tomatoes
The tomato first originated in Mesoamerica, and it is also a plant that was domesticated by humans in 500 BCAztecs(Indians), the first to start growing tomatoes.
The early tomato plants were small, and the fruit may have been about the same size as today's cherry tomatoes, or maybe even smaller, so the Aztecs at that timeEat it as a berry
Later in the 40s of the 16th century,Spanish colonizersWhen he came to Central America, he discovered the plant, which led to its introduction to Europe and subsequently to Asia.
Delicious berries.
At that time, after the tomato was introduced to China, it became a food, and after many years of breeding,Tomatoes have gradually grown in size
As a result, it was discovered that tomatoes taste good whether they are eaten raw or cooked, so it seems that it is right to say that it is a vegetable, and there is nothing wrong with saying that it is a fruit.
ButWhen tomatoes first arrived in Europe, the style of painting has changed abruptly.
Tomatoes turned into an ornamental plant, because at that time Europeans divided it into the Solanaceae family, considering it andBelladonnaThe appearance is very similar.
Poisonous belladonna.
And belladonna happens to be another onePoisonous plants, so naturally, it is thought that tomatoes are poisonous.
The most coincidental thing is that the Europeans ate all of them at that timePewter cutleryThe acidity of the tomatoes is just rightCorrode it
So"Tomatoes are poisonous".The saying has been circulating in Europe for almost decades.
In fact, at the beginning, when there was not widespread breeding,Unripe tomatoes contain tomatoine, is indeed a toxin, and the toxin disappears when it matures.
But after continuous improvement, not only did the tomatoes taste better, but the unripe tomatoes were no longer poisonous.
The cyan ones are not ripe yet.
And so17th century, a French painter when painting tomatoes, really did not stand up to **, after all, the red and bright color, at first glance is delicious.
So he had the courage to taste one, but he didn't expect that not only was it not poisonous, but alsoIt tastes sweet and sour, and it is very delicious
So the news that "tomatoes can be eaten" spread again.
By the 18th century, alreadyIt has become a household name food
Americans define tomatoes as vegetables
Later,United StatesTomatoes were grown on a large scale and exported.
Large-scale cultivation of tomatoes.
As mentioned earlier, at that time, tomatoes were eaten differently all over the world, so there was no attribution to them.
In the 19th century, when the United States was exporting fruits and vegetablesTaxes are levied on vegetables, but not for fruits.
And tomatoes as a kind of food that yields a lot, ifDefined as a fruit, it will certainly make a lot less money
So in order to legally define tomatoes as vegetables, there were even several lawsuits, and finallyThe U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that tomatoes are vegetables
For this reason, the United States has also earned tariffs for many years.
TomatoesBut now they can't make money from the Chinese, becauseChineseWith a love for tomatoes and improved breeding techniques, tomatoes have been widely cultivated.
And in 1995, the output of tomatoes was already in the first place, according to 2020 data, China's annual output of tomatoes reached 56 million tons, and the United States only had 13 million tonsChina has almost four times as much production as the United States
But it has been found that although tomato production in China is now high, there are fewer people who love to eat it.
Tomatoes loved by the Chinese.
Why? It's not a ** thing, butThe taste of tomatoes is getting stranger and stranger, and it's getting worse and harder.
Tomatoes in many people's memories should be softer to the touchIt also feels rusty when you eat it, the taste is even sweet and sour.
But now the tomatoes are not only hard, but also have a very poor taste when eaten raw, and if you don't add a little sugar to the fried vegetables, it is also "sour people don't pay for their lives".You can't taste tomatoes at all
TomatoesThe reason for the change in the taste of tomatoes
In order to find the facts and reasons for the change in the taste of tomatoes,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciencesand professors at Florida State University, a research team was formed.
They formed a "tasting group" of 170 peopleOver the course of four years, more than 100 kinds of tomatoes were tasted
As a result, 33 substances that affect the flavor of tomatoes were found, including glucose, fructose, citric acid, malic acid, and more29 volatile substances
The team then analysed more than 400 samples of tomatoes from around the worldMore than 250 flavor-related loci
Tomatoes were studied.
among othersReduction of the content of 13 volatiles, which is the cause of the deterioration of the flavor of tomatoes.
In fact, this has a lot to do with the process of people's breeding and improvement, as we said before, the fruit of tomatoes is very small at the beginning.
Later, in order to meet the different needs of people, hundreds of varieties of tomatoes of various sizes were cultivated.
And the originalThe "sand pulp" makes the tomatoes not last longIt is also easy to break, so people also prefer to cultivate it as a tomato with thicker skin.
Then in the process, tomatoesA lot of genes are lostFinish.
Conclusions of the study. In this regard, researchers from the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences also studied 31 varieties of powder-fruited tomatoes, and found that compared with traditional varieties, these tomatoesBoth the "sugar-acid ratio" and the "soluble sugar content" have decreased, so it tastes very sour.
A lot of tomatoes are not fully ripe
In addition, many fruits and vegetables are now grown in greenhouses and then transported to other places after long distances.
In order to make tomatoes better stored, many people in tomatoesIt's not yet ripeand plucked it.
Unripe tomatoes.
Originally, for tomatoes, the sweet and sour taste was released during the ripening process, and nowGreen tomatoesAfter being picked, spray some medicine, and then take it out and sell it, and the taste will definitely change greatly.
This is the process of tomatoes, from fruits to vegetables, and from delicious to unpalatable.
In fact, in addition to tomatoes, the taste of many foods has changed nowadays, and there are many reasons for this.
According to scientists, it was found that from 1955 to 2016,The protein content of wheat was reduced by 23%., in which the content of zinc, iron and other elements decreased significantly.
Wheat. The reasons for the decline in its nutritional content, exceptDecline in soil fertility, and changes in the way people farm.
I have to say that it is really difficult to regain the taste of many foods nowadays.