TOMATO (lycopersicum esculentum)

	T
	TOMATO
	*lycopersicum esculentum*

Name
TOMATO

Scientific Name
lycopersicum esculentum

TOMATO

Castilian: tomato

English: tomato

The tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) is one of the used vegetables more anywhere in the world and is in infinite amounts of sauce plates, or crude, fried or cooked. It is a food that is obtained easily and had innumerable varieties.

The tomato represents, along with the onion, one of the main vegetables consumed in Venezuela. This culture is original of the Andean Region, of Peru and Ecuador, being in Mexico in where its domesticación is made. The Tomato is a warm climate culture that adapt to temperatures between 21 and 25°C.

Many vitamins when eating can be obtained tomatos. In the case del crude tomato contributes vitamins to us like A, B1, B2, B6, C and E, and respect to minerals we found in great amounts potassium, but also there is presence of sodium, iron, calcium and phosphorus. As far as the distribution of the nutrients, 100 grams of crude tomato have 1 gram of proteins, 3 grams of carbon hydrates, 1.5 grams of fiber. In addition he is possessor of an important amount of fólico acid.

In the case of the fried tomato they are lost most of its properties, nevertheless, some nutrients are increased. As far as vitamins, its contribution is reduced to vitamin C. The minerals remain intact, increasing sensibly the presence of potassium. With respect to the distribution of the nutrients, 100 grams of fried tomato have 1 gram of proteins, 3.3 grams of carbon hydrates, and the fiber stays almost equal.

The tomatos as better they take advantage of are in crude or with light sofritos that do not put under them the loss of great part of their benefits. For the care of the hair and the nails he is very recommendable to eat tomato. Also it favors the mood and it is very good for the repairing dream.

It is not a food, like almost all the vegetables, that conserve too much time. It is generally gotten to maintain 10 days at the most, this because it continues maturing in spite of not being exposed to the sun. So that the tomatos maintain all their aroma and flavor, the best thing is to keep them to room temperature. If they are wanted to congeal, is necessary to escaldar them a pair of minutes, later to submerge them in frozen water, to pelar them and to congeal them whole or divided; thus they will hold until a year.

There are three types different from tomatos for each use. Great and the round ones are the best ones for the salads, mature for sauces and the small ones, type cherry, for appetizer and trimmings. The three types also vary of color; they go hard of the red one to red the yellowish one.

The tomato has come waking up in the last years a great interest between the scientific community, by the beneficial effect that seems to have on our organism. They are more and more the studies that seem to confirm that this vegetable is an inexhaustible source of preventive and curativas properties.

The first studies were centered in the benefits that contributed in the prevention of certain cancers; they showed that those people who consumed it frequently less were exposed to prostate and colon cancers.

Later studies came to demonstrate to the properties antiaging of a substance presents/displays solely in the tomato, the licopeno. An example of these studies is the carried out one with a group of 90 nuns, in the South of Italy, with ages between the 77 and 98 years. Those with greater indices of licopeno in the blood had a greater agility at the time of making all type of activities.

The most recent studies relate the consumption of tomatos and its derivatives to a diminution of the risk of attacks to the heart. There is no doubt that this one is a food worthy to include in our diet.

Taken from: Gastronomical Gui'a www.laguia.com.

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