Why is the tomato a fruit?

 The tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, Solanum lycopersicum :

Let's define what a fruit is (ending in "o"): In botany, it is an organ of the plant, formed from a flower, which contains the seeds that will serve for reproduction. There is no doubt that the tomato is a fruit. Specifically of the berry type, like grapes. But it is not a fruit.

A fairly accurate definition of fruit can be found on Wikipedia:

Fruit refers to those edible fruits obtained from cultivated or wild plants that, due to their generally sweet-acidic flavor, their intense and pleasant aroma and their nutritional properties, are usually consumed mostly in their fresh state, as juice or as a dessert (and to a lesser extent measure, in other preparations), once organoleptic maturity has been reached, or after being subjected to cooking.

That is, fruits are a specific group of fruits, but not all. Only those that we eat for dessert because of their sweet-sour taste. Because "fruit" is a gastronomic and cultural term, not a botanical one. Therefore, it depends on each culture that a particular fruit is called a fruit or not.

There are many fruits that we would have no hesitation in saying are not fruits, like this one:

It is the fruit of a eucalyptus, in the form of a capsule, with the appearance of wood rather than fruit and that we would never put in our mouths or call "fruit". Source:  Eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora).

And in reality there is no objective argument that prevents the tomato from being considered a "fruit"... if most of us would eat it for dessert and not in a salad. But as the tomato is not sweet and we do not eat it in a fruit salad but with lettuce and onion, we call it a vegetable (which is not a botanical term either) and not fruit.

The same happens with many other fruits, such as eggplant, pepper, pumpkin and many other garden products that contain the seeds that will be used for their reproduction. Or to grains of rice or wheat, or legumes such as peas or beans, which are also fruits. But its usual use is not like the one we give to apples, oranges or peaches, and therefore we do not call (or we should not call) "fruit" neither quinoa, nor coffee, nor soy... nor tomato.

So… why are tomatoes considered a fruit?:

• By mistake.
• By copy of other languages ​​such as English in which there is no distinction between fruit ( fruit ) and fruit ( culinary fruit ). Most articles that say tomato is a fruit (including Wikipedia, where they say "fruit" several times where it should say "fruit") are either translations of English articles, or based on English articles, or copies of others. articles that say so. But none have a botanical basis, because in this scientific discipline the term "fruit" is not used but "fruit".