Tomato
Also called Garden tomato · Love appleSolanum lycopersicum · Solanaceae family
The best tomato experience begins with matching the variety and harvest maturity to the meal.
Find it near DetroitGet to know it
A tomato is a juicy berry with sweetness, acidity and a savory depth that takes it from salads to sauces. Slice a Brandywine and the flesh is soft and juicy; a slender Roma has a firmer bite, while Yellow Pear brings sweetness to a salad.
What it is
The tomato belongs to the nightshade family. Red is only one of its colors: ripe varieties can also be yellow, orange, green, pink or purple. Beside the familiar round tomato there are small cherry and grape types, large-fruited ones and pear-shaped ones.
Texture matters in the kitchen. Brandywine suits a fresh slice; firm Roma tomatoes suit canning. Yellow Pear is a sweet salad tomato. All three are tomatoes, but the amount of juice and firmness makes them different ingredients.
Where it comes from
Tomato’s roots are in western South America. Its development as a food crop continued in Mexico, before Spanish colonizers carried it to Europe in the 1500s. At first, Europeans also grew it as a curious ornamental plant.
The world harvested more than 192 million tonnes in 2023. China grew 70 million tonnes and India 20.4 million, the two biggest national crops.
How it's eaten where it grows
In Andalucía, southern Spain, salmorejo blends ripe plum tomatoes with bread, garlic, olive oil and sherry vinegar. The bread makes a thick, smooth soup, served cold with hard-boiled egg and jamón, cured Spanish ham.
In South India, rasam takes tomatoes in another direction: they simmer with tamarind and spices such as mustard seeds, cumin and black pepper. The tangy broth is served hot with rice, or on its own as a soup.
How it's grown
Tomatoes need sun and a long spell without frost. Bush types stop growing and ripen a concentrated crop over four to six weeks, useful for a big batch of canning. Vining types keep flowering and setting fruit until cold weather, with stakes, cages or trellises supporting them.
A fully developed green tomato can finish ripening indoors at room temperature. It needs warmth rather than sunlight; fruit picked before it is fully developed may never gain a good flavor.
When and where you'll find it
Greenhouses help fresh tomatoes reach US shops throughout the year: Mexico, the leading supplier of tomatoes to the United States, grows them under cover year-round. Beyond fresh fruit, tomatoes are eaten dried or cooked into sauces.
For a field-grown crop in West Michigan, Deep Roots Produce usually opens tomato picking in late July or early August and keeps it open until the first frost. Its rows hold Roma, round, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes.
Sources · 10
- Bumblebee Conservation Trustbumblebeeconservation.org
- Crop Trust, Global Crop Conservation and Use Metrics: Tomatoes (2025)croptrust.org
- Deep Roots Produce, Michigandeeprootsproduce.farm
- Mercado Little Spain, José Andrés Grouplittlespain.com
- Missouri Botanical Gardenmissouribotanicalgarden.org
- Museo del Pomodoro, Parmapomodoro.museidelcibo.it
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolboxplants.ces.ncsu.edu
- Swasthi Shreekanth, Swasthi’s Recipesindianhealthyrecipes.com
- University of Minnesota Extensionextension.umn.edu
- USDA Economic Research Serviceers.usda.gov
Get it near Detroit
What it tastes like
As sweet as a banana, softer than a pear≈
More about the taste
Roma is a firm plum tomato good for canning; Yellow Pear is a sweet salad type.
Brandywine is soft and juicy, Roma is firm, and Yellow Pear is sweet, each suited to different uses.
Choose, ripen, store, eat
1ChooseFirm
Look for
- Firm
For stuffing, choose firm tomatoes, ideally Roma types, so they can be hollowed and filled. For salmorejo, ripe plum tomatoes are what the recipe calls for.
2RipenOn the counter
Ripens after pickingCounterA mature-green tomato can ripen well indoors, but one picked too early, before it's fully developed, may never gain good flavor even after it turns red.
3StoreCounter, unripe
- CounterUnripeOne layer, not touching
Ripen unripe tomatoes at room temperature, one layer deep with the fruit not touching, checking often. They don't need light to ripen.
4EatFruit · not leaves, other plant parts
Eat
FruitNot eaten
LeavesOther plant partsEat the fruit fresh, cooked, dried or processed; the leaves and other plant parts aren't food.
More tips
Worth knowing
- The yellow areas are part of this bicolor tomato, not a sign of immaturity.
- Ripening after picking works best when the tomato had already reached enough maturity; changing color indoors doesn't show it did.
Detroit, Michigan
When it’s good hereUsual monthsJust arrivedAt their bestLast chanceAll yearWhere it is in its usual monthsToday, Oct 22Grown hereIn season in your stateShips fromIn season where it growsOrderableListed by a seller we checkedThe day a seller was checked
1 growing area, 1 countryUsual monthsToday, Oct 22
- Hawaii
- You
1 of 1 areas · October
Varieties like Mountain Fresh and Mountain Honey were bred for different kitchen goals: a juicy slicer for eating fresh, or a firm fruit for sauces, drying and other preserves.
6 varieties
85 names in 26 languages
- TòmátòYoruba
Cook it
3 tomato festivalsUsual monthToday, Oct 22
Strange but trueHistoryA myth, and the truthScienceWhere the name came fromCustoms and cultureFood and drinkPeopleA record
If you like Tomato
Close relatives
Same plant family
Used the same way
Sources
Photos · 4
Sources
Tomato · Fruitopia · checked Oct 2, 2026
- almostturkishrecipes.com
- deeprootsproduce.farm
- extension.umn.edu
- flickr.com
- littlespain.com
- plants.ces.ncsu.edu
What we don't know yet
The stuffed-tomato recipe is a quinoa adaptation of Turkish dolma.