Modern varieties have been bred to ripen uniformly red, in a process that has impaired the fruit's sweetness and flavor.

Tomatoes are attacked by many insect pests and nematodes, and are subject to diseases caused by viruses and by mildew and blight fungi.

It is used in pizzas, pasta and other sauces, soups such as gazpacho, curries including dhansak and rogan josh, as juice, and in Bloody Mary cocktails.

[5] The likely wild ancestor of the tomato, the red-fruited Solanum pimpinellifolium, is native to western South America, where it was probably first domesticated.

He stated that it was blood red or golden color when mature, and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil.

Ten years later Mattioli named the fruits in print as pomi d'oro, or "golden apples".

It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain, as documented in the 1618 play La octava maravilla by Lope de Vega with "lovelier than ... a tomato in season".

For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty", and were grown only in gardens or flower beds.

The tomato's ability to mutate and create new and different varieties helped contribute to its success and spread throughout Italy.

[19] In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration, until it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century.

Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating for many years in Britain and its North American colonies.

[23] For example, in Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal, it is described under the name "Love Apple (Amoris Pomum)" as being consumed with oil and vinegar in Italy, similar to consumption of cucumbers in the UK.

[29] The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon saw them in what is today South Carolina,[30] perhaps introduced from the Caribbean.

[31] Some early American advocates of the culinary use of the tomato included Michele Felice Cornè and Robert Gibbon Johnson.

[34][35] The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1937 yearbook declared that "half of the major varieties were a result of the abilities of the Livingstons to evaluate and perpetuate superior material in the tomato."

[36] Because of the tomato's need for heat and a long growing season, several states in the Sun Belt became major producers, particularly Florida and California.

That is a diverse family of flowering plants, often poisonous, that includes the mandrake (Mandragora), deadly nightshade (Atropa), and tobacco (Nicotiana), as shown in the outline phylogenetic tree (many branches omitted).

On the other hand, hybrids of tomato and diploid potato can be created in the lab by somatic fusion, and are partially fertile, providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.

[64] The first commercially available genetically modified food was a tomato called Flavr Savr, which was engineered to have a longer shelf life.

This is apparently because of oxidative stress due to overload of the photosynthetic chain in direct sunlight at high temperatures.

[69] Breeders strive to produce tomato plants with improved yield, shelf life, size, and resistance to environmental pressures, including disease.

[70] Breeders have turned to wild tomato species as a source of alleles to introduce beneficial traits into modern varieties.

For example, wild relatives may possess higher amounts of fruit solids (associated with greater sugar content), or resistance to diseases such as to the early blight pathogen Alternaria solani.

The machine cuts the whole vine and uses sensors to separate ripe tomatoes from the rest of the plant, which is returned to the farm for use either as green manure or to be grazed by livestock.

[77] In 2022, world production of tomatoes was 186 million tonnes, with China accounting for 37% of the total, followed by India, Turkey, and the United States as major producers (table).

[86] Tomatoes, with their umami flavor, are extensively used in Mediterranean cuisine as a key ingredient in pizza and many pasta sauces.

In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), raw tomatoes supply 18 calories and 16% of the Daily Value of vitamin C, but otherwise have low micronutrient content (table).

[102] In a 2011 scientific review, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that lycopene did not favorably influence DNA, skin exposed to ultraviolet radiation, heart function or vision.

[112][113] The town of Buñol, Spain, annually celebrates La Tomatina, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight.

In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables, but not on fruit, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance.