Tomatoes

How Much Fun Can A Vegetable Have?

Ah, to be a bright, plump, juicy tomato. It’s a fruit and a vegetable and comes in a rainbow of colors (even Green Zebra). Tomatoes play a starring role in cuisine throughout the world and are bursting with nutrients and antioxidants. Even kids love them — particularly in tacos, pizza and in our own Flying Tomato Saucers.

Fun in Many Forms

Tomatoes now come not only in red, but also in yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, black and white. There’s even a striped tomato called Green Zebra and a hairy one called Fuzzy Peach.

America, Land of Opportunity — And Tomatoes

The tomato was introduced to Europe by none other than Christopher Columbus, who discovered them while he was looking for a sailing path to India. He also found a new continent you may have heard of.

Fruit or Vegetable?

So, is the tomato a fruit, or vegetable? The answer is both. How is that possible? The tomato is the ovary and seeds of a flowering plant. “Fruit” is the scientific term. In 1893, however, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the tomato a vegetable for the purposes of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, which imposed a tax on imported fruit. “Vegetable” is the culinary term. As Chef Smith says, if it cooks like a vegetable, it’s a vegetable.

Tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, pink guava and pink grapefruit make up the very small group of foods containing lycopene. It’s no coincidence that all these foods are pink and red, because these plants turn the sun’s energy into lycopene, which is deep red in color. Lycopene is believed to help prevent cancer, especially prostate cancer. To get the highest amount of lycopene from tomatoes, it’s best to eat them cooked or processed rather than raw.

Packed with Vitamins

One medium-sized tomato is packed with 26% of your daily requirement of Vitamin C along with 20% of the Vitamin A you need. Tomatoes also provide you significant amounts of Vitamin K and potassium. And they’ll help keep you thin — just 22 calories per tomato, with almost no fat.

Give The Kids Their Own Garden

Nothing Gets Kids More Excited Than Being In Charge

Get them excited about tomatoes by helping then select a few plants and then planting and caring for them. Start with small plants, not seeds (the hardest part is getting the seeds to grow). Give them a small sunny part of your backyard and a shovel, and let the kids and tomatoes grow.

The great thing about tomatoes is that they can grow in almost any container. Whether it’s an old bucket, and empty egg carton or small area in the backyard, you can let your kids take the wheel and grow their own tomatoes.

Your kids can look up gardening tips themselves, talk to other gardeners and learn what works best by observing their plants. By late summer, they can take pride in putting their own beautiful tomatoes on the dinner table.

And the fun doesn’t stop when it’s time to harvest. Consider setting up a build-your-own taco stand, a homemade pizza party to let the kids enjoy the fruits of their labor. Find out more in the pick, prep and store tab.

Pick, Store & Prep Tomatoes

We all use them. We all love them. But how can we know we’re getting the freshest tomatoes every trip to the store?

Pick

When picking out the perfect tomato, choose tomatoes that are heavy for their size and free of any blemishes. It’s pretty hard to pick a bad tomato but your best bet is to go with firmer, not “squishy” tomatoes. Tomatoes will continue to ripen after being picked so plan your dishes ahead of time.

Store

Storing tomatoes is pretty easy too. It’s always best to keep tomatoes at room temperature. So tossing them into a bowl and setting them out on the counter is great and adds a pop of color to your kitchen. Remember to never put tomatoes in the refrigerator. It reduces the flavor of the tomato.

Prep

The hardest part of prepping a tomato is deciding which cut you want. Sliced, diced, chopped or quartered, you can’t go wrong. For the kids we suggest finely chopping them, making it a perfect topping for a variety of tasty dishes. For all you adults, cutting the tomato in wedges and tossing it with a cool crisp salad is the way to go.

Cook

Want to bring the family together for a little fun in the kitchen? Here are a couple of easy ways to get your kids to enjoy healthy ingredients.

Open a Taco Station

You’ll Need:

• Taco shells or soft tortillas
• Whole black or pinto beans
• Shredded cheese
• Chopped tomatoes
• Stir-fried ground beef with taco seasoning
• Hidden Valley^® Ranch dressing
• Shredded lettuce
• Salsa made with fresh tomatoes (optional)

Let the kids help out by putting out the cheese and lettuce and chopped tomatoes while you stir-fry the ground meat and heat the beans.

Put each ingredient in a serving bowl in a line, just like in a Mexican taqueria. Then give the kids a plate and tell them to stuff their own. Taco night is many kids’ favorite, and it might soon be yours also.

Put on a Pizza Party

Pizza is one of kids’ favorite foods, and a great dish to make together.

Many stores sell premade pizza crust, and those are perfect for a last-minute pizza dinner. It’s also fun to spend part of an afternoon making your own crusts. Let your kids help knead and shape the crusts, then freeze them for later use.

The simplest of all pizzas have nothing more than a well-cooked crust, a light brushing of olive oil and a scattering of chopped tomatoes. Try it sometime — it’s easy and delicious. From there, you can add anything you want, including:

• Shredded cheese
• Sliced onions
• Pitted olives
• Hidden Valley^® Ranch dressing
• Sliced ham, salami or pepperoni
• Chopped broccoli
• Sliced peppers
• Chopped spinach
• Thin-sliced garlic

Don’t Overload

Chop up a variety of vegetables for your kids and let them build their own pizza creations. While it’s tempting to put everything on one pizza, but be careful or it will turn out soggy. It’s better to make several pizzas with different combinations of ingredients — and it’s more fun to eat them that way, too. Homemade pizzas should be cooked in an oven preheated to 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how thick the crust is. Always brush the crust with a little olive oil before putting it in the oven.

Here’s a trick: sprinkle a little cornmeal on your pizza stone or baking pan before putting on the unheated pizza. This way, the pizza will slide off more easily.

Tantalizing Tomato Recipes

It can be sautéed, roasted, made into a sauce or kept as a simple topping. Either way, the tomato is an ideal ingredient in any dish. Here are a few kid-friendly recipes starring the tantalizing tomato that the whole family will love.

• 

  Tuna, Tomato & Vegetable Salad

  This classic combination is easy to make.

  View recipe

• 

  Pizza Wedge Salad

  Enjoy the heartiness of pizza and the healthiness of salad in one delicious meal.

  View recipe

• 

  Open Faced Italian Focaccia Sandwich

  Elegant, classic, delicious. This is your grilled cheese sandwich — all grown up.

  View recipe

Ripe or Wrong: The Tomato Knowledge Quiz