Tomato is a fruit or vegetable: No food straddles the line

No food straddles the line between fruit and vegetable more famously than the tomato . And while your elementary-school teacher or know-it-all friend may have informed you that tomatoes are technically fruits, the answer isn't so clear-cut. Here’s the answer to whether a tomato is a fruit and a look at the botanical and culinary difference between fruits and vegetables. Tl;dr: A tomato is a fruit, but it is usually considered a vegetable. Tomatoes are fruits that are considered vegetables by nutritionists. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Tomatoes, plums, zucchinis, and melons are all edible fruits, but things like maple “helicopters” and floating dandelion puffs are fruits too. While tomatoes are scientifically fruits, they’re legally classed as vegetables . From the definitions previously mentioned, it might seem like tomatoes are unequivocally not vegetables.