Tomatoes are versatile fruit for making various delicious recipes. Not many people know but tomato is a fruit or we can say a berry which is widely confused with a vegetable. The scientific name for tomato is Solanum lycopersicum which means wolf peach. Tomato has a history of being an integral part of almost all the dishes and salads. It is a huge source of antioxidant lycopene and also a huge source of Vitamin C, potassium, folate and Vitamin K. Tomato is native to western South America. From salads to various dishes around the world uses tomatoes as its main ingredient. The flexible fruit can be used in various dishes in infinite ways possible. It can be seeded, cored, sliced, fried and what not. We definitely need to need how to core tomatoes and how to peel or use tomatoes for different dishes and cuisines. Before that, we need to know a little about tomatoes.
Nutritional values of tomatoes
Tomatoes are a rich source of energy, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamin, minerals, water and lycopene. Most important being lycopene which is an antioxidant and has a role in heart, blood pressure, osteoporosis.
Fun facts about tomatoes
- 93% of the gardeners in America grow tomatoes
- After China, the US is the second largest producer of tomatoes
- Colonial American gardeners were scared to eat tomatoes as it is related to deadly nightshade.
- It loses Vitamin C when exposed to sunlight
- Tomatoes have been expected to have over 25 thousand varieties
- If stored with the stem down, tomatoes last longer
- Apart from red, it comes in the shades of yellow, orange, pink, green, purple and also black
- 5% of the weight of a tomato is water
Genetically Modified Tomatoes
The use of biotechnology in improving food sector has one of the greatest applications where GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) tomatoes were developed. As tomatoes are easily perishable, the prime aim behind growing tomatoes GMO was to increase the shelf life. These tomatoes have a thick outer skin which makes it less perishable and thereby increases the shelf life. Also, the flavor is saved to some extent because of the thick skin surface. These genetically modified tomatoes are known as Flavr Savr Tomatoes.
Ways to use tomatoes for consumption
The tomatoes can be used in various ways such as coring a tomato, peeling and many more. The right way to consume the tomato for the perfect flavor and taste requires that one should know how to core tomatoes, or seeding and peeling it off.
How to core tomatoes?
Steps followed to learn how to core tomatoes includes the following:
- Wash the tomatoes thoroughly under fresh clean water
- Remove the green leaf part on the top
- Take a sharp pointed knife and make a cut on the top part
- Dig a little and remove the knotted area from where you removed the green leafy part
- Do not remove deeper parts as it does not count as coring the tomatoes
Tools used to core tomatoes
The tools used to core tomatoes include a basic knife but with the advanced technology, improvements have been done to make such tasks like how to core tomatoes much easier. The tool is called tomato corer. It is just inserted on a clean fresh tomato and twisted around. This gives a cored tomato with the knot stem part removed.
The tomatoes are also seeded apart from being cored. Most people get confused between the two things and assume that removing the entire seed part with the stem is termed coring. Tomatoes are cored for soup, canning purposes or freezing or just to enjoy general food recipes.
