Tomatoes for children: benefits and harms, tips for use. Tomato, tomatoes interesting facts All about tomatoes for children

What better summer dish than a tomato salad with cucumbers, peppers, a little red onion, fresh basil, olive oil and some mozzarella, or tofu! Many cannot imagine their life without fresh juicy tomatoes, which is why this article was prepared on the benefits of tomatoes. Let's start with the most unexpected ... Did you know that tomatoes are actually fruits, not vegetables?

Tomatoes are delicious

If something tastes good, it doesn't automatically make it good for your health. Thank goodness tomatoes are as nutritious as they are delicious. There are many types of tomatoes, but the most delicious are those grown by farmers in the wild. They can always be found on the market during the summer season.

Tomatoes are nutritious

When talking about the health benefits of tomatoes, one cannot overlook the fact that tomatoes are very nutritious. One serving of red, ripe tomatoes is a great source of vitamins A, C, K and potassium. They are naturally low in sodium and calories, and contain niacin, vitamin B6, copper and thiamine. An additional advantage of tomatoes is their high fiber content.

Tomatoes relieve kidney stones

Tomatoes aren't just delicious. They are also vital for your internal organs... For example, tomatoes can help your kidneys stay healthy and avoid stones. They will also help protect you from gallstones! Some studies have shown that people who eat tomatoes are less likely to develop kidney and gallstones.

Improves skin health

Eating a lot of tomatoes will help improve the condition of your skin. Tomatoes are rich in beta-carotene, which is also found in orange vegetables such as carrots and potatoes. Beta carotene helps protect skin from sun damage. Another delicious ingredient in tomatoes is lycopene. Lycopene protects your skin from UV damage.

Tomatoes relieve chronic pain

Several studies have shown that tomatoes can help people heal chronic pain. They are rich in bioflavonoids and carotenoids, which are known anti-inflammatory agents. So, if you are suffering from chronic pain, make sure tomatoes are part of your daily diet. You are probably already convinced of the benefits of tomatoes, but even more interesting facts await you further.

Tomatoes strengthen bones

You probably had no idea that tomatoes can help your bones get stronger? But this is true! They contain a large number of vitamin K and calcium. These two ingredients are ideal for strengthening bones. Yes, tomatoes have calcium, and dairy isn't the only source of it. Lycopene in tomatoes also has a strong effect on bone strength.

Regulation of blood sugar

Tomatoes help regulate your blood sugar and are a good source of chromium. If you feel like grabbing a bite, just eat a few tomatoes and you will feel so much better right away! For maximum results, consume them fresh.

Tomatoes improve hair health

The benefits of tomatoes extend to healthy hair as well. You will definitely have great hair if you eat a lot of tomatoes! Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin A, which makes hair shiny and strong. You can eat them or use them as a hair mask. Use a hand blender and blend two tomatoes together, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and olive oil, then massage into damp hair. Leave hair in this state for one hour, then rinse with shampoo.

Tomatoes prevent cancer

Tomatoes have been proven to help prevent cancer. Lycopene is by far the most important anticarcinogenic stimulant! It does reduce the risk of several cancers, including cervical, oral, prostate, and ovarian cancer. Tomatoes are rich in antioxidants that fight free radicals that damage cells.

The name of the tomato comes from Italian. pomo d "oro - golden apple. The real name of the Aztecs was tomato, the French changed it into French tomate (tomato).

Peru is considered the birthplace of tomatoes, or rather, coastal strip sushi between northern Chile and Ecuador, where this crop was grown long before the arrival of Europeans.

For a long time, tomatoes were considered inedible and even poisonous. European gardeners bred them as an exotic ornamental plant. The history of how a bribed chef tried to poison George Washington with a dish of tomatoes entered American textbooks on botany.

In 1822, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson publicly ate a bucket of tomatoes on the steps of a courthouse in Salem, New Jersey. A crowd of two thousand gathered for the performance was amazed to find that the retired military man was not at all going to die in terrible agony - and the tomato began to rapidly gain popularity.

The world's largest tomato was grown in Wisconsin, USA. He weighed 2.9 kg.

Tomatoes - the fruit of a tomato - from the point of view of botany - multi-nested paracarp berries. V English language there is no difference between the terms fruit and fruit. In 1893, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that tomatoes should be considered vegetables when imposing customs duties (although the court noted that from a botanical point of view, tomatoes are fruits.

There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. The smallest tomato is less than 2 centimeters in diameter, and the largest weighs almost 1.5 kilograms.

Due to the high content of the so-called "hormone of happiness" serotonin, tomatoes are able to perfectly cheer you up even on the most dull and cloudy day.

Tomato is one of the most popular vegetables - more than 60 million tons of tomatoes are produced annually in the world.

One glass of tomato juice contains half the daily requirement of vitamin C and provitamin A, which actively support the immune system.

Doctors believe that regular consumption of tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato paste, ketchup and other tomato sauces can significantly reduce the risk of developing cancer.

For a long time it was believed that the tomato belongs to an aphrodisiac, but this is not true.

Tomak (tomakko) is a plant obtained after grafting a tomato onto a tobacco stock. Grown in 2003 by farmer Rob Baur of Oregon, USA.

But there are only 22 kilocalories per 100 g of tomatoes! So these vegetables do not get fat.

The red varieties contain more nutrients than the yellow ones.

The tomato is a biological relative of potatoes and tobacco - all three plants belong to the nightshade family.

La Tomatina (Spanish La Tomatina) is an annual celebration held in the last week of August in the Spanish city of Buñol, autonomous community of Valencia. Tens of thousands of participants come from different countries to participate in a battle in which tomatoes are used as "weapons".

Tomato, aka tomato, has long been known as a garden plant, no one can do without it festive table... It is used for making salads, snacks, and eaten raw. The plant itself is called a tomato, and its fruits are called tomatoes. They can be red, yellow, green, pink and even burgundy.

The tomato came to us from South America... Wild and semi-wild species of this plant are still found on this continent. The tomato was also known to the Aztecs; its ancient name, tomato, has survived. In the XVI century. the tomato became famous in Europe. Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to receive tomato. Then this plant was appreciated in France and Italy. In the XVIII century. The tomato came to Russia, but it was originally grown as an ornamental plant, and its fruits were considered poisonous.

❀ A story has survived to this day about how the enemies of the President of the United States, George Washington, bribed the chefs to poison the President. The cook decided to use tomatoes as a poison. The president was delighted with the unusual dish and thanked the cook, and then calmly set off to solve important state problems.

In Russia tomato ceased to be considered poisonous in the 18th century. The edible qualities of tomatoes were discovered and described by the nobleman and scientist Andrei Timofeevich Bolotov, who, among other sciences, also studied agronomy. However, there is still no definite answer to what a tomato is - a berry, vegetable or fruit. Botany calls the tomato a berry. At the end of the 18th century. the American court ruled that the tomato is a fruit, however, when transporting tomatoes, they were charged a customs duty as with vegetables. In 2001, the European Union ruled that the tomato is still a fruit.

Useful properties of tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes are incredibly healthy. They contain many substances that are simply necessary for the human body. These substances include starch, vitamins B, C, fiber, sugars, nicotinic, folic and other organic acids, mineral components such as sodium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, silicon, iron, sulfur, iodine, chlorine. With diseases of the digestive tract, cardiovascular system, with anemia, gastritis, it is very useful to use fresh tomatoes and tomato juice. Tomatoes help with weakening of memory and loss of strength. And there is no need to talk about the taste of this vegetable.

Tomatoes are a popular vegetable crop. The name of this plant in translation from Italian means "golden apple", because for the first time in European countries, varieties were grown, the fruits of which were yellow color; the word itself comes from the Spanish tomate. The French call vegetables "the apple of love" because they believe that tomatoes are an aphrodisiac. Tomatoes were first cultivated in Italy. Interestingly, in botany, the fruit of a plant is attributed to berries, but due to its use in food for everyone, it is considered a vegetable. There are more than a hundred types of tomatoes, which include both small cherry tomatoes and large-fruited campari, cream, etc. Tomatoes are yellow, red, green, pink, purple and even chocolate in color.

History of tomatoes

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Fernando Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, visited the garden of Montezuma and saw large red fruits there. He was so impressed by their appearance and taste that he decided to bring it with him to Europe, after which they began to plant this plant for decorative purposes. Historians call Mexico the birthplace of tomatoes. Even in our time, there are wild-growing tomatoes. Their fruits are small compared to the varieties we are familiar with. When the plants were brought to Europe they were called "Aztecs matl", but they were renamed tomatoes (from French) and tomatoes (from Italian). They began to be used to decorate gazebos, terraces, greenhouses, etc. Scientists believe that the decorative rather than culinary use was due to the fact that nothing was said about tomatoes in the Bible. But people who did not believe in God calmly enjoyed these fruits. Only 100 years later, tomatoes began to be used in cooking. The oldest recipe for tomatoes was found in a book for chefs, which was published back in 1692 in Naples.

Tomatoes were brought to our regions in the 18th century from Turkey, where they were also first grown as ornamental bush believing that its fruits are poisonous. But later the scientist A.T. Bolotov found that tomatoes are actually very tasty and cannot harm a person in any way. Thanks to this, in Crimea, they began to actively grow a plant, like vegetable crops... They were called at that time "love apple", "red eggplant" and "wolfberry". Tomatoes were cultivated in Georgia, Taurida and in many other countries, but the north still perceived the plant as an ornamental one. Interestingly, in 1780, Catherine II ordered the delivery of a tomato from Rome as fruit.

1. When the tomato was grown as ornamental plant, the fruits never fully ripened, because they grew on flower beds. For the first time, the ripening of tomatoes was achieved when Bolotov proved that they were harmless.
2. The fruits have many useful properties: they contain fiber, vitamin B, potassium, acids and other useful elements for the human body.
3. Tomatoes contain choline, which is beneficial for lowering cholesterol and strengthening the immune system.
4. The tomato with the highest weight in the entire history of the plant's existence was recorded - about three kilograms. They grew such a fruit in the USA.
5. It is impossible to say unequivocally what a tomato is - a vegetable, a berry or a fruit, because everyone has a different opinion. In botany, fruits are called berries, in the USA - vegetables, and in the European Union - fruits.
6. The most useful are dried tomatoes. For a kilogram of such tomatoes, you will need more than 10 kg of fresh vegetables.
7. In the city of Kamenka-Dneprovsk, which is located in Ukraine, a monument "Glory to the Tomato" was erected.
8. There are more than 10 thousand varieties of tomatoes.
9. There are unusual varieties of tomatoes, the fruits of which are black.
10. According to statistics, about 60 million tons of tomatoes are grown every year.
11. Tomatoes are 95% water.
12. Heat treatment makes tomatoes even healthier.
13. There is a version that the Aztecs first grew a tomato in the 8th century AD. They named them "tomatl" which means "big berry".
14. Colonel R. G. Johnson proved to the people that fruits are harmless by eating a whole bucket in front of a court in New Jersey.
15. The diameter of the smallest tomatoes in the world is 2 cm.
16. Most tomatoes are grown in China (16% from all over the world).
17. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which is used to prevent cancer and cardiovascular problems.
18. Tomatoes can cheer you up because they contain a lot of serotonin, which is the "happiness hormone".
19. Doctors say that if you often eat tomatoes fresh or as ketchup, you can prevent cancer.
20. Tomatoes are considered a dietary product because one hundred grams contains only 22 kcal.
21. Red tomatoes are much healthier than yellow tomatoes.
22. It is not recommended to store tomatoes in the refrigerator, because low temperatures negatively affect them.
23. In 2003, farmer Rob Brown managed to create tomacco by grafting tomato stock with tobacco stock.
24. Tomatoes are used for medicinal purposes: the pulp is used to heal wounds and burns. Tomatoes have this ability due to the contained phytoncides.
25. Every year at the end of the summer in Buñol, a tomato celebration is held, which is called "La Tomatina". On the holiday, residents of many cities and countries come to take part in the battle with tomatoes.
26. Tomatoes are very beneficial for smokers, as they can cleanse the body of cigarette smoke, lower blood pressure and slow down inflammation.
27. The fruits are useful for strengthening bones and growing skin cells. they contain calcium.
28. Tomatoes improve metabolism due to phosphorus in their composition.
29. To make it easier to adapt to the weather, it is recommended to use tomatoes, because they contain magnesium.
30. Tomatoes are still used today for decorative purposes to decorate landscape compositions.

The golden apple, or the apple of love - this was the name of this sunny fruit (yes, it’s a fruit!) In France and Italy. Did you know that until recently, tomato fruits were considered inedible and even poisonous? What is history worth when with the help tomato sauce tried to poison George Washington, the future president of the United States ... I'm sure there are many more facts about this amazing plant that you don't know! However, I intend to fix this).

1.The tomato fruit is 94.5% water.

2. The homeland of tomato is Central America, and it belongs to the nightshade family (as well as potatoes, peppers and eggplant). And this plant was domesticated by the Aztecs, who used it not only as food, but also as a powerful (and dangerous) hallucinogen.

3. Tomatoes spoil more slowly if stored petioles down.

4. There are more than 25,000 varieties and varieties of this crop in the world.

5. Many European countries are in no rush to include tomatoes and other vegetables from the New World in their diets. They shy away from them because they are not mentioned in the Bible as food.

6. In the 16th and 18th centuries, Italians used tomatoes as table decorations. During this period, Italian botanists bred countless types and varieties of tomatoes through selective breeding efforts.

Under favorable conditions, the tomato plant turns into a real tree!

7. The weight of the world's heaviest tomato was 3.51 kilograms, the tallest tomato plant grew up to 19.8 meters in height, and the most productive tomato managed to produce 32 thousand fruits with a total weight of 522 kilograms!

8. Tomato fruits quickly lose vitamin C if stored in the sun.

9. Often tomatoes are picked still green - they ripen on the way to the counter, and to speed up this process they are fumigated with ethylene.

10. To make green tomatoes ripen faster, put ripe apple... The ethylene it releases stimulates redness / yellowing of the fruit.

11. Tomato leaves are poisonous.

12. Tomatoes are powerful medicinal properties... Their regular use reduces the risk of developing cancer, prevents cardiovascular diseases, partially neutralizes the harmful effects of smoking, normalizes high blood pressure, dissolves stones in the gallbladder, reduces the risk of blood clots and generally has a general strengthening effect on the body.

Even if you plant new varieties of tomatoes every year, your whole life will not be enough to taste them all!

13. Storing tomato fruits in the refrigerator impairs their aroma and taste.

14. Including tomatoes in your diet on a regular basis makes your skin less susceptible to ultraviolet rays... Naturally, this does not replace the need for sunscreen.

15. It is impossible to collect seeds from hybrid tomatoes, since the plants obtained from them do not inherit the qualitative characteristics of the mother ones.

16. China is the largest supplier of tomatoes in the world, while the United States is ranked second.

17. The scientific name of the tomato sounds like "Lycopersicon lycopersicum", which translates as "wolf peach".

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which has strong anti-cancer effects

18. On average, every Russian eats 23 kilograms of tomatoes a year, while the main tomato producers in Russia are private households, and the largest importer is Turkey (as of the end of 2016).

Happy New Year to all subscribers and readers of the blog and wish you all the best! Let me remind you that it's time to go to the store for planting material and fertilizers so that all the most valuable varieties and novelties are not disassembled. By the way, on the eve of the holiday, many seed online stores hold very tasty promotions, which are a sin not to take advantage of.