Tomatoes –

Who knew? One of my favorite vegetables is really a fruit. That’s right, the popular tomato is a fruit. If fact, because the tomato is formed from a single ovary, it is botanically a berry. If you love tomatoes, most likely you don’t care about the botanical classifications, you want to know how to grow and enjoy one of your favorite foods.



Tomatoes are wildly popular both with gardeners and cooks. There are literally hundreds of varieties of tomatoes with as many uses for them. Nothing says summer like vine ripened tomatoes.

Tomatoes originated on the west coast of South America. From there tomatoes spread literally across the globe and today over 130 million tons of tomatoes are produced annually. In Italy the tomato is often referred to as Pomodoro, “golden apple” and in France the nickname for the tomato sometimes is Pomme d’ amour. “love apple”. In the US, approximately 80% of tomato production is for processing the the tomato into pasta sauces for pizza, spaghetti etc.

Here is a great clip with tips for starting and growing your own tomatoes.

In Bunol, Spain there is even an annual festival that is the worlds largest tomato fight. They estimate that nearly 40,000 people throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other. Check this out:

In Carmel, CA there is a more civil tomato festival where you can celebrate and taste hundreds of varieties of tomatoes. Here is a link to the Carmel Tomatofest.

So if you aren’t into food fights or crowds, maybe these ideas would be better for you:

How about this bacon stuffed tomato from Grandmother’s Kitchen.org

Here is the recipe.

Here is great recipe for Tomato Cucumber Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives from Five Heart Home.com

Here is the recipe.

Looking for a healthy juice to start your day? Check out this Tomato Sunrise by Ear Mark Social.com

Here is the recipe.

Nothing like soup on a rainy day. Here is a wonderful Creamy Tomato Soup recipe from Mother Thyme.com

Here is their recipe.

One of my personal favorites is the caprese salad.

Here is our recipe 

A post on tomatoes really should have a bloody mary recipe

Here is an epic bloody mary recipe

We put together a slideshow with more recipes for you. Here is the link.

Do you have some great tips on growing tomatoes or a favorite recipe? We would love to hear from you. Send us an email or leave a comment.