It is said that genetic home land of tomato is western coastal plain of South America.

Its movement to Central America is still not clear and is beleived that all the cultivated varities originated from Central America.

Today’s tomatoes are the result of the breeding process in the 19^th century. It is still not clear about the evolution of the today’s tomato variety. It may be the result of the process of natural selection or hybrisiation by man.

Tomato was first intorduced in Europe in the middle to the 16th century. Tomato in early production days was yellow  and was also known as golden apple (Pomodoro).

a) Myths and legends (in different cultures)

The theoretical ancestors of all modern tomato varieties are supposed to be Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme but some also consider Solanum pimpinellifolium, as their grand parents.

There were different name given by the Aztec.The meaning of Aztec word tomatl simply meant "plump fruit". The other names for it were xitomatl, the edible tomato; miltomatl, the husk tomato or "tomatillo"; and tomate.

As a result it is very difficult to find when the use of tomato started in the cuisine of spainish, but for sure it has been a very important part of their food.

When the tomato was first taken to Europe about 1523, it was not well received. People used to consider it poisionious and was grown only for the ornamental purpose. Itlay was the first European to coutry which started it using as a food and started the culivation on large scale. Its Italian name pommi dei mori was changed during translation to the French as pomme d'amour or "love apple", since many vegetables introduced from the New World were thought to have an aphrodisiac effect.

North Americans believed tomatoes were poisonous until 1820 and were afraid to use it as a food but Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson disproved that myth during a public demonstration on the courthouse steps in Salem, NJ.

An interesting question about tomato is whether it is a fruit or vegetable. Although i is a fruit but in 1833 U.S. Supreme Court decided the tomato was legally a vegetable. This was a result of a court case brought by a New Jersey importer John Nix who refused to pay an important tariff on his tomatoes, arguing that technically tomatoes were fruits. The court agreed that botanically tomatoes were fruits but it was decided that commonly they were used as vegetables so they must be considered as vegetables instead of fruits.

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_35.html

Uses by humans through History

The use of tomato by North American settlers was not recorded until after their independence. but, before then, they were regularly used as food by the Italian and French immigrants.

In england, jewish immigrants accepted it more readily than the portuguese or spainish descent.

French living in New Orleans were the first to make tomato ketchup in 1779.

Modern Uses:

There are more than 300 varieties of tomato, ranging from tiny currant type to the beefsteak king which can weigh over two pounds each. They also come in different shapes (elongated, plum shaped or slightly squarish and even pear shaped). Now- days tomatoes are widely used and are an important part of any recipe. Tomatoes can be used in different forms. They can be used raw, in form of puree or after preservation. Some of the uses of tomatoes are:

1. Beefsteak Tomatoes: Large, ridged and deep red or orange in colour have a good flavour and are used in salads.
2. Canned Tomatoes: Used in canning for the off season, can be mixed with different herbs or garlic to give a personal touch.
3. Cherry Tomatoes: Small in size with a rich flavour, sometime costly.
4. Plum/Italian Paste/Roma Tomatoes: Richly flavoured with fewer seeds than regular tomatoes, are used mostly for cooking and salads. The seeds are smaller and less bitter and need to be removed before cooking.
5. Round or Salad Tomatoes: Available in the greengrocers and supermarkets year round, best for everyday cooking and salads.
6. Sun Dried Tomatoes: They are mostly used in the Mediterranean dishes.
7. Tomato Puree: Mostly used for flavouring the food while cooking, can be stored for a longer period.

1. Cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme) are only about half an inch in diameter.

There are three variants:

L. esculentum var. pyriforme is the same size as the cherry tomato, but pear-shaped;

Var. pruniforme is also about the same size, but plum-shaped;

Var. ribesiforme is the smallest of all the tomatoes.

2. Ailsa Craig and Alicnate varieties grow well indoors and outdoors, producing a tasty fruit.

3. Black Plum is a Russian variety having fruit which is elongated and a deep mahogany to brown in colour.

4. Brandywine is a delicious old variety,with large fruit  and  rosy pink skin with  with a purplish-red tinge

5. Cherry Belle is a cherry tomato of good quality.

6. Cherry, also known as Tear Drop, is bite-sized variety that can be very sweet and juicy, and tends to taste better than slicing tomatoes during the winter season.

7. Delicious and Dombito are large beefsteak varieties.

8. Gardener's Delight is an extremely popular variety, grown indoors or outdoors, and producing cherry tomatoes over a long period of time.

9. Green Zebra is a tasty fruit with unusual green skins and yellow stripes.

10. Marmande Super is a delicious outdoor variety with deep red, ribbed fruits.

11. Marvel Striped Traditional is an old Mexican variety with large, tasty, juicy, striped fruits.

12. Minibel is a bush tomato with tiny tasty fruit that grows well in pots and window boxes.

13. Moneymaker is a famous old variety grown indoors or outdoors, producing succulent scarlet fruits.

14. Oaxacan Pink is a Mexican variety from the state of Oaxaca that produces small flattened pink fruits.

15. Red Alert is an early bush variety, producing small, sweet, oval fruit that can be grown indoors or outdoors.

16. Roma VF is an outdoor bush plum tomato grown for paste, ketchup, soups, or juice.

17. San Marzano is an Italian variety good for soups, sauces, or salads.

18. Shirley is grown commercially and has good quality tasty fruit. It can withstand lower temperatures than most types and is an ideal one for organic growers.

19. Siberia Tomato matures very early, about seven weeks after transplanting, and can withstand temperatures as low as 5°C (38°F), producing clusters of bright red fruits.

20. Super Beefsteak is a huge, old fleshy variety whose fruits can reach a pound in weight.

21. Tigerella has tasty, but small, orange-red fruits with pale stripes.

22. Tiny Tim is ideal for window boxes and hanging baskets. The fruits are cherry-size, but tasty.

23. Tumbler was bred for hanging baskets as it has flexible hanging stems. The bright red fruits ripen quickly and are sweet to taste.

24. Yellow Cocktail is an indoor variety that produces large trusses of tiny, pear-shaped, golden-yellow fruits.

25. Yellow Pear-shaped is aptly named producing dense clusters of sweet-tasting fruits that have few seeds.

26. Yellow Perfection is prolific with excellent bright yellow fruits.

ALL THE FOLLOWING PICUTRES I HAVE LOADED ARE FROM THE BOOK-- ALL ABOUT TOMATOES by Doty & Walter, L. (1981) . I APPRECIATE THIS BOOK VERY MUCH

Here are some of the references of the books and website which helped me writing this article and during my project report writing. i would like to acknowledge them

References

1. http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsa1/a/BetaCarotene.htm
2. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/ghtomato.html#pollination
3. http://cals.arizona.edu/CEAC/photolib/pics/flower-fruit/imm_frt.jpg
4. http://cals.arizona.edu/CEAC/photolib/pics/flower-fruit/matfrt_flwer.jpg
5. http://cals.arizona.edu/CEAC/photolib/pics/flower-fruit/mature_flwer.jpg
6. http://chemistry.about.com/library/graphics/blcarotene.htm
7. http://chemistry.about.com/library/graphics/bllyco2.htm
8. http://davidkphotography.com/index.php?showimage=136
9. http://pollinator.com/tomato.htm
10. http://www.botany.com/lycopersicon.html
11. http://www.hortnz.co.nz/productgroups/freshtomatoes.html
12. http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/tomato.htm
13. http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_35.html
14. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/April05/Features/GreenhouseTomatoes.htm
15. http://www1.umn.edu/webdd/images/tomatoes.jpg
16. http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/Tomato/Reproductive/flranat.html
17. Doty & Walter, L. (1981) All about Tomatoes. Ortho
18. Greenhouse Tomatoes (1978) New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
19. Harlan, J.R. (1992) Crops and Man, 2^nd edn. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Sceince Society of America, Madison, WI.
20. Ingrem & Christine (2003) The world encyclopaedia of vegetables. Lorenz
21. Kalloo, G. (1991) Introduction. In: Kalloo, G. (ed.) Genetic Improvement of Toamato. Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Vol. 14, Springer-Verlag, Berlin,pp.39-50
22. Picken, A.J.F., Stewart, K. and Klapwijik, D. (1986) Germination and vegetative development. In: Atherton, J.G. and Rudich, J.(eds) The Tomato Crop. A scientific basis for Improvement. Chapman and Hall, London, pp.111-116
23. Rick, C.M. (1978) The Tomato. Scientific American 239(8), 67-76

1. Weaver & Woys, W. (2000) 100 vegetable and Where they came from. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

1. Wein, H. C. (1997) The Physiology of vegetable crops . In Kinet, J. M. & Peet, M. M. Tomato (pp. 207-258).CAB International

1. Wittwer, S.H. and Aung, L.H. (1969) Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. In: Envans, L.T. (ed.) The Induction of Flowering. Some Case Histories. Macmillan, Melbourne, pp.409-423.