The tomato, the red, but sometimes yellow, and even eaten when green, is the most popular “vegetable” in America. It is believed to have evolved from the prehistoric plant Nightshade over millions of years ago in South America. But its popularity did not come easily through centuries filled with numerous misconceptions. The very tomato that we know and identify so deeply with summer today is a distant relation of the first known tomatoes that were cultivated in central South America. Before Alexander W. Livingston (pioneering seedsman 1821-1898) came along, tomatoes were small, hollow, tough, watery fruits.

The classic debate in tomato history: is it a vegetable or fruit? Botanists and horticulturists don’t agree. However, part of the outcome can be blamed on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws imposed a 10 percent duty on vegetables, but none on fruits. By 1893 the highest court in the land decided the tomato was a vegetable and therefore subject to ta...