For many people the question remains. Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Well, we all know that a tomato is a fruit, but the nutrition and variable uses that is available to us from tomato’s is one that can easily be mistaken for a vegetable.

Tomato’s firstly cultivated as early as 700AD. By the Aztecs and the Incas and then later introduced to Europeans by Mexicans around the 1550’s. Today tomato’s are grown in every country, not just commercially but also by civilians who just want to get their fingers green and see the fruits of their labour. Available in every colour imaginable, the sky is the limit in regards to taste, shape and size.

The health benefits of tomato’s are unmistakable. High contents of vitamin C, with as much as 23mg contained in a medium sized tomato, vitamin A and B1, B2, B3, B5 B6, E, and K. An abundance of minerals: such as magnesium, phosphorous, calcium and potassium and high contents of chromium, folate and fiber. The list of nutrients is endless and far to many to mention.

Now most of these contents sound like gibberish and for the average man none of this has any meaning . Joe soap will know vitamin C and maybe calcium or potassium. Well, in laymans terms tomato’s are good for you. It has antioxidant properties, that can make you look younger and greatly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Tomato’s also contain 90% water with very low salt content. So it acts as a diuretic (eliminates toxins) if you are on a diet for example. The darker red the tomato, the riper it is and then its lycopene content is the highest and that is the antioxidant that reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and reduces the risk of cancer.

Tomatoes, truly “TIMELESS”. It has been around for 1300 years and will be around for many more to come.