Tomato refers to the red, edible fruit portion of the nightshade family or the Solanaceae family. Its origin is America; however it is now consumed almost all over the world as raw, cooked, bakedand fried and so on. Botanically known as Solanum lycopersicum, tomato is a rich source of vitamins and is very suitable for children.
Advantages of Tomato
Calories
Tomatoes contain very low calories, amounting to just 18 calories per 100g of the fruit. This is possible because they do not contain cholesterol at all and have very low fat content. Thus they suit people who want to reduce weight and also for people who want to reduce their cholesterol levels.
Tomatoes are also rich sources of antioxidants, fibre, minerals and vitamins.
Antioxidants
These red fruits are very nutritious and contain one of the strongest antioxidants the carotene ? lycopene. This antioxidant prevents prostrate cancer and is found to be more in coked tomatoes rather than the raw ones. Lycopene is also found helpful to prevent UV rays from penetrating your skin, thus would be helpful in preventing skin cancer too.
They also protect from colon, breast, endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancer. Since the absorbance of oxygen is more, tomato helps in rejuvenating your skin, keeping it young for longer time.
Zea-Xanthin
This is another flavonoid present in tomato, which prevents ultra violet rays from entering your eyes and also keeps you away from AMRD, age related macular disease. It also contains many other flavanoid and many other antioxidants such as alpha and beta carotene, xanthins and lutein.
Vitamins and Minerals
Tomato contains high amounts of vitamin A and vitamin C. Vitamin A helps in giving better eye sight, and vitamin C gives you resistance against infections and is a natural way to fight diseases. Other vitamins present are vitamin B complex, folate, thiamine, niacin and riboflavin.
Potassium, which is an integral part of body cells and blood cells, is present in high amounts in tomatoes. It controls heart. Sodium which is also present helps in controlling blood pressure. Tomatoes contain iron, calcium, manganese and other elements too.
Season
Although available most part of the year, you would be able to get tomatoes at cheaper prices from spring to summer, and now, that is,starting from April you would have to begin buying fresh, ripe tomatoes and begin storing them in different froms for times to come. Within the next couple of months you would find the rate of tomatoes escalating and at that time you would be able to use these stored forms.
You can bottle tomatoes using vinegar, make pickle out of it, jam, jelly, wine and also store it for daily usage as tomato puree. Lets discuss all these recipes and also the usage of tomatoes for beauty this week…
