Tomato Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers
What is a tomato?
A: The tomato is the edible, often red fruit/berry of the nightshade Solanum
lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant.
Where did the species originate?
A: In the South American Andes.
Where did its use as a
food originate?
A: In Mexico, and spread throughout the world following the Spanish colonization
of the Americas.
Its many varieties are now widely grown, sometimes in what?
A: Greenhouses in cooler climates.
While the tomato is botanically a fruit, it is considered a
vegetable for what purposes?
A: Culinary purposes.
The fruit is rich in "what", which may have beneficial
health effects?
A: Lycopene.
The tomato belongs to what family?
A: The nightshade family, Solanaceae.
How tall do the plants typically grow?
A: 3–10 ft in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground
and vines over other plants.
How much does an average common tomato weigh?
A: Approximately 100 grams (4 oz).
Where does the word tomato come from?
A: The Spanish tomate.
Tomatoes were erroneously thought to be
poisonous by
Europeans who were suspicious of their what?
A: Bright, shiny fruit.
Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica used the fruit in
their what?
A: Cooking.
The exact date of domestication is unknown, but by 500 BC,
it was already being cultivated where?
A: In southern Mexico and probably other areas.
The Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their
colonies in the what?
A: Caribbean.
They also took it to the Philippines, from where it spread
to where?
A: Southeast Asia and then the entire Asian continent.
The tomato grew easily in
Mediterranean climates, and when
did cultivation begin?
A: In the 1540s.
Tomatoes were not grown in England until when?
A: The 1590s.
What did Thomas Jefferson, do after eating tomatoes in
Paris?
A: He sent some seeds back to America.
Alexander W. Livingston was the first person who succeeded
in what?
A: Upgrading the wild tomato, developing different breeds and stabilizing the
plants.
In 1875, Livingston introduced what variety?
A:The Acme.
Because of the long growing season needed for this
heat-loving crop, what two states became major tomato-producers?
A: Florida and California.
In California, tomatoes are grown under irrigation for both
the fresh fruit market and for what?
A: Canning and processing.
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) became a
major center for what?
A: Research on the tomato.
The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis
is a what?
A: A gene bank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic
stocks of tomato.
Who is the Center is named for?
A: The late Dr. Charles M. Rick, a pioneer in tomato genetics research.
The poor taste and lack of sugar in modern
garden and
commercial tomato varieties resulted from what?
A: Breeding tomatoes to ripen uniformly red.
Cultivated tomatoes vary in size, from tomberries, less
than a quarter inch in diameter up to what?
A: Beefsteak tomatoes of 4 inches or more in diameter.
The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in
what range?
A: The 2.0–2.4 inch diameter range.
Tomatoes grown for canning and sauces are often elongated,
3–4 inches long and 1.6–2.0 inches in diameter and are called what?
A: Plum tomatoes.
Where are Roma-type tomatoes important cultivars?
A: In the Sacramento Valley.
Tomatoes along with zucchini, have a reputation for what?
A: Out-producing the needs of the grower.
In 2012, what was world wide tomato production valued at?
A: 58 billion dollars.
