Tomato facts and facts about tomatos, from the Random Facts shelf.
13 facts on this shelf
According to popular legend, the Margherita pizza was named after Queen Margherita of Italy, who visited Naples in 1889. Its tomato, mozzarella, and basil were said to represent the red, white, and green of the Italian flag.
In 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled in Nix v. Hedden that the tomato should be treated as a vegetable for tax purposes, even though botanists call it a fruit.
Some Europeans once feared tomatoes were poisonous, possibly because acid in tomatoes leached lead from pewter plates.
La Tomatina is a festival in Buñol, Spain, where people throw tomatoes at each other.
The heaviest tomato on record weighed about 10.8 pounds.
The word "tomato" comes from the Nahuatl word "tomatl."
Tomatoes get their red color from lycopene.
The tomato is the most popular home garden vegetable in the US.
The story of Robert Gibbon Johnson eating a tomato on courthouse steps in 1820 to prove it was safe is likely a myth.
China grows the most tomatoes in the world.
Ketchup was originally a fish sauce, and tomato ketchup became popular in the 1800s.
English words like "chocolate," "tomato," "avocado," and "chili" come from Nahuatl, the Aztec language.
Japan approved a CRISPR-edited tomato in 2021.