[HN Gopher] How to eat a tomato (2011) [pdf]
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       How to eat a tomato (2011) [pdf]
        
       Author : Tomte
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2022-02-03 09:53 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ruhlman.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ruhlman.com)
        
       | pengaru wrote:
       | Tomatoes are one of those texturally weird to eat
       | fruits/vegetables where the experience is dominated by the
       | placenta.
        
         | brnaftr361 wrote:
         | Borderline inedible, classifiable as food only insofar as they
         | can be imbibed but certainly toxic in their capacity for
         | repugnance alone. Culinary atrocity.
        
       | ortusdux wrote:
       | To quote Kenji Lopez Alt - "A BLT is a tomato sandwich, seasoned
       | with bacon." It is a simple concept, but it was the small twist
       | in thinking that helped me shift to eating more vegetables.
       | 
       | https://www.seriouseats.com/blt-manifesto-how-to-make-best-b...
       | 
       | Side note: I made friends with several people mastering in
       | horticulture at the University of Florida, and they were all
       | working towards breeding flavor back into tomatoes, blueberries,
       | strawberries, etc. Decades of research have focused on frost
       | resistance, pest resistance, hardiness, and increased yield, all
       | at the expense of flavor. We are starting to see bespoke
       | flavorful produce at the store, but if the fruits my friends
       | brought home from the experimental fields are any indication, we
       | are ~10 years away from a total shift away from bland produce.
       | 
       | One thing that surprised me was the fact that their research is
       | funded in part by selling the best experimental fruits to Japan
       | to be used as gifts. I'll never forget being at margarita night
       | and learning that I just blended $100 dollars of blueberries. And
       | yes, they were the best blueberries that both the experts and I
       | have ever had.
        
       | belter wrote:
       | Fun facts: Although the Tomato is botanically a fruit, not a
       | vegetable, you look for it in the vegetables section not fruits.
       | [1]
       | 
       | In the 19th century, the US Supreme Court classified the Tomato
       | as a vegetable instead of a fruit. :-) [2]
       | 
       | [1] "Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?"
       | 
       | https://www.britannica.com/story/is-a-tomato-a-fruit-or-a-ve....
       | 
       | [2] "NIX v. HEDDEN(1893) No. 137 Argued: Decided: May 10, 1893"
       | https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/149/304.html
        
         | khazhoux wrote:
         | > In the 19th century, the US Supreme Court classified the
         | Tomato as a vegetable instead of a fruit.
         | 
         | This is still one of SCOTUS's most controversial decisions,
         | going directly against the intent of the Founding Fathers as
         | shown in Federalist Paper No. 17.
        
           | bbarnett wrote:
           | Maybe, but it is fully refuted by Jenkin's deep research, and
           | subsequent paper, into the validity of Federalist Papers,
           | their authors, and their quoters.
        
         | ssharp wrote:
         | The practical classification seems better than the botanical
         | classification. The botanical definition would also classify
         | peppers, cucumbers, squash, and many other things we consider
         | to be "vegetables" to actually be "fruit".
         | 
         | I think there is a general mental model that works well for
         | diets where fruits are associated with being sweet and
         | vegetables aren't and that vegetables are thought of to be
         | healthier as a result and don't need as much moderation. Though
         | that admittedly falls apart in some instances -- corn, root
         | vegetables, and avocados all need moderated, though two of
         | those are botanically fruit :)
        
           | Someone wrote:
           | For real fun, look up botanical "berry" (cucumber, eggplant,
           | grape, pumpkin, tomato, fruits of the potato, banana, melon,
           | but not strawberry, raspberry. See
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_(botany). Avocado seems
           | to be an edge case that may be a berry or a drupe)
        
         | ortusdux wrote:
         | I would genuinely love it if, in the same vein, the question
         | "Is a hotdog a sandwich?" made it to the supreme court.
        
         | phonypc wrote:
         | A wide variety of vegetables are botanical fruits. I don't
         | understand why that's interesting, or why people only ever talk
         | about how it applies to tomatoes.
        
         | pjmorris wrote:
         | "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is
         | knowing not to put it in a fruit salad." - Brian O'Driscoll
         | 
         | Michael Ruhlman, the author of the linked tomato article has
         | written a number of terrific books [0]. 'Ratio: The Simple
         | Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking' [0], in particular,
         | might appeal to the crowd here. His blog [1] is worth following
         | by foodies.
         | 
         | [0] https://ruhlman.com/ruhlmans-books/
         | 
         | [1] https://ruhlman.com/
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-05 23:00 UTC)