The yummy toamtao... (Tomatoes)

Member Name: passionofpast

Product:	Tomatoes
Date:	10/11/08 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very essential for many cuisines, good nutritional value

Disadvantages: must be fully ripe before use

Tomatoes as every body knows is a general berry used in most of the cuisines. Its botanical name is Solanum Lycopersicum as it belongs from the family Solanaceae and has the antioxidant named Lycopene.

It is categorised as berry as it is a link between fruit and vegetable, however vegetable has got its name only in cuisine not in botany.
It is more on the fruit side as tomato itself is an ovary with its seeds.

Most of the tomatoes now a days are picked from the plants when they are unripe and then they are treated with ethylene which is a gas used to begin the ripening process.

Tomato has a great nutritional value as it contains the natural antioxidant lycopene which is good to prevent prostate cancer, High blood pressur and also for prevention from harmful UV rays of sun hence good to prevent one from sunburn also.
A good level of vitamin A and vitamin C along with many other antioxidants are also found in tomatoes.

Tomato has its great importance in many cuisines like indian, mexican, chinese in the form of puree, juice, paste, sauce, ketchup, pie and also in simply cut form as in pizza and brushetta and in mexican dishes in form of salsa ( a type of sauce).
The top 5 tomato producing countries are:
China, US, Turkey, Egypt and India.

An important thing to keep in mind for tomatoes is one should not keep tomatoes in refrigerators as it decreases its taste.

Thanks for going through....

Summary: must have them while cooking ,,,one tomato a day too keeps the doctor away