Is tomato vegetables or fruits?Someone went to court for this!

Is tomato vegetables or fruits?

Maybe it should be called, tomato? | Chanwu / Flickr

Tick ​​a ticket first, let's look back later:

This dispute sounds similar to the salty and sweet dispute between the rice dumplings. However, after all, we are just "talking about the soldiers online". No one salty party/sweet party is not clear because of different opinions, not to meet the court.

However, in the United States more than a hundred years ago, the problem of tomatoes or fruits was in the Supreme Court.

Tariff storm

The incident originated from the Tariff of 1883 in 1883, which stipulated that imported vegetables should be paid up to 10%of taxes, while fruits are not used. At that time, New York Customs believed that tomatoes were vegetables and had to pay taxes. John Nix (John Nix) and others were doing imported tomatoes. They may seriously study some botanical knowledge and decide to drill the empty. In 1887, Edward L. Hedden was sued the court, and they believed that tomatoes should be attributed to fruits and asked to return the taxation tax.

According to the definition of botany, Knicks's statement really makes sense. "Fruit" and "Fruit" in English are a word: Fruit, which generally believe that it contains the seeds of plants, derived from the flowers of the plant. The case was all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. It was not until 1893 after 6 years that the court made a final ruling.

From the perspective of botany, tomatoes are "fruits" | Paul Woods /Flickr

In the court, the lawyers of both sides started fierce confrontation, but this case is not like other cases. There are countless evidence witnesses. There is only one weapon in the hands of the two sides, that is, -dictionary: "Webster's Dictionary", "" Webster's Dictionary "," " Worcester's Dictionary and "Imperial Dictionary".

Both sides are as follows:

The plaintiff's lawyer reads the definition of "fruits" and "vegetables" in the dictionary, and asked two merchants who have been engaged in the business of fruits and vegetables for 30 years to ask them if these two words have other special meanings in trade activities. They both believe that these two words have no special meanings in trade and are consistent with the dictionary.

The plaintiff's lawyer reads the definition of "tomatoes" in the dictionary.

The defendant reads the definition of "pea", "eggplant", "cucumber", "pumpkin", "pepper" in the dictionary of the dictionary.

The plaintiff's lawyer reads the definition of "potatoes", "radish", "European radish", "cauliflower", "cabbage", "carrot", "soybean".

This looks almost the same as the word test, but it is actually very simple. The plaintiff believes that according to the dictionary explanation, tomatoes are "fruits", so they should be treated with "fruit" and should not be charged for tariffs. The defendant believes that "fruits" like peas, eggplant, and cucumber are actually defined as "vegetables".

Court ruling

Although the plaintiff's lawyer reads the dictionary well, the judge unanimously stood on the defendant and ruling tomatoes as vegetables instead of fruits. Although tomatoes are perfectly in line with the definition of fruits in botancontics, people usually use it as the main dish, cooking and eating instead of as desserts. From the perspective of popularity and daily eating, it is more like vegetables.

Tomatoes are usually cooked as vegetables, such as making classic pasta sauce | Katty-S/Flickr

Judge Horace Gray pointed out that although the dictionary defines fruits as "plant seeds, or containing seeds, especially the succulent and juicy parts of some plants", this definition does not clearly indicate clearly Tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables.

In addition, Judge Gray also quoted the two previous cases of the Supreme Court (Brown v. Piper, 91 U.S. 37, 42, and JONES v. U.S., 137 U.S. 202, 216). The court should accept its general meaning, not special meaning. Therefore, in this case, the content in the dictionary cannot be regarded as evidence, just a tool to help the court understand and remember.

This is not the first case of the "rectification" of the plant. The 1889 Supreme Court ruled a similar case, which was also related to the tariff law in 1883. The protagonist involved in the case is white beans.

Mediterranean white bean salad (this time pushing it seems normal) | She Paused 4 Thought / Flickr

The tariff law stipulates that general seeds do not need to pay taxes, except for a type of "garden seeds" (Garden Seeds), it needs to pay up to 20%of taxes. Customs tax officers attributed white beans to garden seeds to tax on it, and importers were not convinced. Later, the Ministry of Finance acknowledged that it was not appropriate to put white beans at gardening, but it should still pay taxes in accordance with the standard of vegetables (10%). The importers were still dissatisfied, and the court ruled that Bai Bean was vegetable. The judge believes that beans are the dishes on the table. Whether it is roasted, eaten, or soup, it is the practice of people treating vegetables.

Vegetables and vegetables

If the fruits are strictly defined as "the fruit of the plant" in accordance with the botanical standards, many of the vegetables we know must recognize the ancestors to become "fruits". In addition to tomatoes, there are peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many melons, because they are usually them usually It is necessary to cook and eat it as vegetables. Comic: If tomatoes are vegetables, then small pot friends will never like it anymore ... | lsned.com

The reason why fruits generally have three necessary conditions: can be eaten raw; succulent and juicy; seeds containing plants. Vegetables can be cooked for cooking, which are generally taken from the roots, stems, leaves and other parts of the plants. They also include members of the plant fruits who were expelled from the fruit family because they could not eat raw and not sweet enough.

In fact, the three necessary conditions for tomatoes to meet the fruits, but because people have cooked them and become vegetables; another member of the tomato family, small tomato, also known as the sage fruit, is mostly eaten because of raw food and is mostly eaten. See as fruit.

In fact, vegetables and fruits are not a scientific classification, but more like a habit without exact conclusion. If it wasn't for the benefit, I am afraid that no one would go to court.

Author: Su Muqi

This article is authorized to be reprinted from fruit shells (ID: guokr42)

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