Are Tomatoes Fruit or Vegetables?

      Everybody has most likely at some point discussed, "are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?" Scientifically speaking, tomatoes are fruits. Fruits are developed from in the base of a flower and contain the seeds of the plant (although cultivated forms may be seedless). However in 1893 under the Nix v. Hedden decision, this changed.

     In 1839 John Nix founded the John Nix & Co. fruit commission in New York City. The company became one of the largest sellers of produce in New York City at the time and was one of the first companies to ship produce coming from Virginia, Florida, and Bermuda to New York. In 1883, a Tariff Act signed by President Arthur was signed which required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables. The John Nix & Co. company filed a suit against the Collector of the Port of New York since their tomatoes were being taxed. They argued against the tariff by pointing out that really a tomato is a fruit due since it bears seeds and grows from the flowering part of a plant. At the trial, the plaintiffs' counsel used as evidence the Webster's Dictionary definitions of the words "fruit" and "vegetables". They also called two witnesses that were in the business of selling fruit and vegetables for thirty years, and asked them if after hearing these definitions, if these words had "any special meaning in trade or commerce, different from those read." One witness testified that:

"[the dictionary] does not classify all things there, but they are correct as far as they go. It does not take all kinds of fruit or vegetables; it takes a portion of them. I think the words 'fruit' and 'vegetable' have the same meaning in trade today that they had on March 1, 1883. I understand that the term 'fruit' is applied in trade only to such plants or parts of plants as contain the seeds. There are more vegetables than those in the enumeration given in Webster's Dictionary under the term 'vegetable,' as 'cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, peas, beans, and the like,' probably covered by the words 'and the like'

Another witness testified that:

 "I don't think the term 'fruit' or the term 'vegetables' had, in March 1883, and prior thereto, any special meaning in trade and commerce in this country different from that which I have read here from the dictionaries."

Both the counsels made use of the dictionaries. The plaintiffs' counsel used evidence from the same dictionaries and used the definition of the word tomato, while the defendant's counsel then read in evidence from Webster's Dictionary of the words pea, eggplant, cucumber, squash, and pepper. Then to counter this, the plaintiff then read in evidence from the definitions of potato, turnip, parsnip, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot and bean. I personally don't really understand what this did.

The court unanimously decided in favour of the respondent and found that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable, since based on the ways in which it is used, and the popular perception to this end. Even though tomatoes are actually fruit, most people would consider it to be a vegetable; hence the United States Supreme Court ruled that a tomato is a vegetable for the purposes of the customs regulations. Supreme Court Justice Gray acknowledged that while yes, botanically tomatoes are classified as a fruit, they are seen as vegetables because they were usually eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a dessert.