1. Tomatoes are scientifically fruits, not vegetables! Botanically speaking, a tomato is a berry because it forms from the flower of the plant and contains seeds inside. However, because we use them in savory dishes like pizza sauce and salads, chefs treat them as culinary vegetables!

2. The Supreme Court once ruled that tomatoes are vegetables. In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court had to decide if tomatoes were fruits or vegetables for tax reasons. The justices legally declared the tomato a "vegetable" because people ate them during dinner rather than as a sweet dessert!

3. Tomatoes turn red thanks to a powerful antioxidant. As tomatoes ripen in the sun, chlorophyll breaks down and a pigment called lycopene builds up. Lycopene gives tomatoes their bright red color and acts as a powerful antioxidant that helps protect plant cells from sun damage.

4. Europeans used to think tomatoes were poisonous "poison apples." When tomatoes were brought to Europe from South America in the 1500s, wealthy people ate them off pewter plates containing lead. The acid in the tomatoes leached the lead out of the metal plates, causing lead poisoning that people wrongly blamed on the fruit itself!

5. The word "tomato" comes from an ancient Aztec word. The word originated from the Indigenous Nahuatl word tomatl. The Aztecs in Mexico were the first people known to domesticate and cultivate wild green tomatoes for cooking thousands of years ago.

6. Tomatoes ripen faster when placed next to bananas. Tomatoes produce a natural plant hormone gas called ethylene. If you put a green tomato in a paper bag with a banana or apple, the extra ethylene gas trapped inside tricks the tomato into ripening and turning red much faster!

7. There are over 10,000 different varieties of tomatoes. Tomatoes don't just come in red! Inherited "heirloom" varieties come in nearly every color of the rainbow—including bright yellow, deep purple, striped green, chocolate brown, and bright orange.