Tomatoes play an important role in our daily diet. Apart from home cooking, the demand for tomatoes is increasing day by day as they are added to various types of food.

Instead of using tamarind for flavor, it has become common for indians to use tomatoes. Tomato-based sauce has become an inseparable part of the new food culture in fast food, including pizza, burgers, samosas, and fried rice.

A poor man's apple!? - Because the price of apples is high, the poor cannot afford to buy and eat more. It is called the poor man's apple because tomatoes are considered its substitute. In this case, when the yield is high, the price of tomatoes will fall.

When yields are low, prices go up. Due to the high yield, a kilo of tomato has sold for Rs.10. The price of tomatoes has rocketed past Rs 150 as the yield has decreased due to monsoon rains for the past few days. So, not only the poor but also the middle class are struggling to buy the poor man's apple.

The tamil Nadu government has made arrangements to sell tomatoes at affordable prices in fair price shops so that the lower class people will suffer due to the increase in the price of tomatoes. It is worth noting that the price of tomatoes sold in this way is at a rocket speed.

Here are some interesting facts about such tomatoes:

The scientific name of tomato is Solanum lycopersicum. It belongs to Solanaceae family.

Tomatoes are 95 percent water and the remaining 5 percent contain malic acids, glutamates, vitamin c and lycopene.

l Lycopin is responsible for the red color of tomatoes.

l Tomatoes grown in europe were yellow in color and were called yellow apples.

Historians say that it was the Portuguese who introduced the tomato to India.

l Tomatoes were cultivated in india because of good soil fertility and good yield.

l The area under tomato cultivation increased during british rule.

l india ranks second in tomato cultivation in the world.

l Last year alone 2 crore tonnes of tomatoes were grown in India.
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Tomato

S Venkateshwari

08/07/2023 12:30 AM