Tomato

I love, love, love tomatoes…they are the perfect addition to any dish! There are hundreds of different varieties of tomato too, and they all taste uniquely delicious. I obsess over the colors, textures, and tastes of heirloom tomato, while cherry and grape tomatoes are perfect for adding into salads and popping straight into your mouth as a snack. Raw, or in sauce, dips, soups, and every Italian dish possible – tomatoes are my perfect vegetable.

  • Tomatoes – of all colors – contain lycopene. Lycopene helps to get rid of free radicals and damaging oxidative stress in the body, while supporting the structure of cell membranes.
  • Tomatoes have amazing antioxidant properties, all of which provide cell support and plenty of benefits for our bones, kidney, blood, and liver.
  • Eating tomatoes makes your heart happy. They help to lower cholesterol and can even prevent unwanted clumping of platelet cells in the blood. Too many clumps = bad news blood.
  • Multiple studies show that diets that include tomatoes have been linked with reduced risk of some neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. A few studies have also linked tomato-containing diets with reduced risk of obesity.
  • In a study from the Harvard School of Medicine, men who consumed the highest amounts of lycopene (6.5 milligrams per day) showed a 21 percent decreased risk of prostate cancer compared with those eating low levels.

Vegukate Tips:

Never store tomatoes in the refrigerator. Refrigerating tomatoes damages the membranes inside the fruit walls, causing flavor loss and a mealy texture.

Buy organic if you can. Cherry tomatoes are usual suspects on the “dirty dozen.” Plus, I always find that fresh, organic tomatoes are the most flavorful and delicious. Some grocery market tomatoes taste like shoes. Seriously.

Tomatoes at room temperature will keep for about a week, but are most delicious the day you bring them home from the market.