"The fruit of love" cherry tomatoes (small tomatoes): are they a fruit or a vegetable? Are they genetically modified? Are they high in calories?
Cherry tomatoes, often called small tomatoes, are known as "little golden fruit" and "the fruit of love". They are not only brightly colored and beautifully shaped, but also pleasant in taste and rich in nutrients. So are cherry tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? Are they genetically modified?
The cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme), whose official Chinese name is cherry tomato, is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Solanum in the family Solanaceae. It is both a vegetable and a fruit, and the plant can grow up to 2 m at its tallest. It has the effects of promoting salivation and quenching thirst, strengthening the stomach and aiding digestion, clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood and calming the liver, nourishing and enriching the blood, and stimulating the appetite. It is not only brightly colored and beautifully shaped, but also pleasant in taste and rich in nutrients. In addition to containing all the nutrients found in tomatoes, its vitamin content is higher than that of ordinary tomatoes. It has been listed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as one of the "four major fruits" prioritized for promotion.
Are cherry tomatoes genetically modified
Genetically modified food uses artificial methods to transfer genes from other organisms into crops. For example, transferring a flower's genes or a tree's genes into a person - that would be genetic modification. Cherry tomatoes are an "original tomato" variety. By recombining the excellent traits of small cherry tomatoes with great taste and flavor through conventional hybridization, cherry tomatoes are obtained, so they are not genetically modified products.
The benefits of cherry tomatoes
1. Slowing pigmentation and delaying aging
Lycopene is a very strong antioxidant. Supplementing with lycopene resists aging, strengthens the immune system, and reduces the occurrence of disease. Lycopene can also reduce the degeneration of the eye's macula and reduce pigmentation. Therefore, the tomato has the reputation of being the "fruit of longevity".
2. Anti-cancer
Studies show that lycopene can effectively prevent prostate cancer, digestive tract cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, uterine cancer, skin cancer, and so on.
3. Can lower blood lipids and blood pressure
For patients with lowered blood pressure who often experience bleeding gums or subcutaneous bleeding, eating tomatoes helps improve the symptoms.
4. Preventing the occurrence of blood clots
Patients with coronary heart disease and stroke who drink an appropriate amount of tomato juice every day benefit in their recovery.
5. Strengthening the stomach and aiding digestion
It helps digestion and lubricates the intestines to relieve constipation, and can prevent and treat constipation.
The calories of cherry tomatoes
For people who are losing weight, they are so strict about every food they put in their mouth, always asking how many calories the food has and then weighing whether they should eat it. We all know that tomatoes are relatively low in calories and can be eaten during weight loss. So how many calories does the tomato's cousin - the cherry tomato - have, and can we eat cherry tomatoes while losing weight? In fact, cherry tomatoes are very low in calories, and we can consume them with peace of mind while losing weight.
The calories of cherry tomatoes (calculated per 100 grams of edible portion) are 22 kcal (92 kJ). Cherry tomatoes are nutritious and low in calories, and many models rely on eating cherry tomatoes to keep their figures. Their rich acidic juice can help you balance your skin's PH value. For people with dark and rough skin, you can mix cherry tomato powder with egg white and apply it to the face, leave it for about 15 minutes, then rinse with clean water, which is of great help in removing dead skin from the face. Cherry tomatoes are also a vegetable rich in vitamin C. Mix a little honey into cherry tomato powder and rub it on the face, then wash it clean after more than ten minutes; persisting every day can remove spots and whiten the skin.
Cherry tomatoes are the most primitive tomato variety
The character "egg" in the name tomato is indeed apt; it is in the same family as the eggplant, both belonging to the Solanaceae family, with its hometown far away in the Andes Mountains of South America. Around 500 BC, wild cherry tomatoes were taken into the Aztecs' own vegetable gardens. As the name suggests, these tomatoes had a slender figure comparable to cherries.
Only later, when Italians began using tomatoes in dishes such as pizza, did tomatoes truly come to be promoted and cultivated as a vegetable. Note that until then, tomatoes were still miniature in size. After that, pursuing larger and more numerous tomato fruits became the main goal of breeding. Subsequently, continuous crossbreeding and selection indeed made tomatoes grow bigger and bigger. However, these large tomatoes are neither fragrant nor sweet, and even their sourness has been omitted.
Cultivation techniques
Variety selection
Choose mid-to-late maturing varieties among the indeterminate growth types, and plant Taiwan Red Ruby (also known as New Cherry Tomato), a variety with a long production period, high yield, and strong tolerance to heat and moisture.
Plot selection
Cherry tomatoes have strong adaptability to soil, but loam or sandy loam that is convenient for irrigation and drainage and loose and fertile in texture is best.
Sowing at the right time
(1) Seedbed preparation. The seedbed should be sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, with good drainage. For 667 sq m of field, 6-7 sq m of seedling bed and 35-40 sq m of transplanting bed are needed. For the subsoil of the seedbed, apply 1500 kg of decomposed human manure and urine per 667 sq m, and spread 8 cm of nutrient soil on top.
(2) Sowing period. Sow appropriately early to extend the harvest period as much as possible. Using a small arched shed for seedling raising allows earlier sowing and also reduces the occurrence of seedling-stage diseases. Generally sow in late April.
(3) Seed soaking and germination. Use 20 grams of seed per 667 sq m. After soaking in a 1000-fold potassium permanganate solution for 10 minutes, rinse with clean water and soak in warm water for 6 hours, wash the seeds, shake off the water, keep moist with wet gauze, and germinate at about 25°C; sow after the seeds show white.
(4) Sowing and post-sowing management. To ensure a high rate of surviving plants, the seeds are required to be placed and sown individually, and covered with 0.5 cm of nutrient soil. Maintain a relatively high temperature before emergence; after emergence, to prevent excessive growth, attention should be paid to ventilation. At the two-true-leaf-and-one-heart stage, select healthy disease-free seedlings and, on a clear evening, carry out "three-with" transplanting with fertilizer, pesticide, and soil; the transplanting bed is the same as the seedling bed, and after transplanting, water to settle the roots.
(5) Prevent seedling-stage diseases and control excessive growth. There are many diseases in tomato cultivation areas. Cupric ammonium complex or Luheng No. 2 can be used to control damping-off and early blight. Spray once every 7-10 days, for 2-3 consecutive times. After the transplanted seedlings survive and before field planting, according to the growth of the seedlings, spray 1500x10-6 daminozide, or pour 300x10-6 chlormequat, which can increase leaf color and inhibit excessive growth. If growth is too vigorous, spray or pour once more after three weeks.
Protected cultivation
Small shed cover cultivation: In January, use a sun-facing bed or ground heating wires inside a large shed plus a small shed cover for seedling raising, plant in early to mid-March, preferably planting after mulching with plastic film first, and cover with a small shed immediately after planting; supply the market from May to July, about 1 month earlier than open-field cultivation.
2. Large shed cultivation: In early December, raise seedlings in a cold bed or with electric heating wires inside a shed, plant in late February, with a large shed over a small shed, harvest from April to early August, and choose early-maturing, high-yielding, high-quality varieties.
3. Rain-shelter cultivation: Similar to large shed cultivation, except that the shed canopy is not opened throughout the whole period and only the surrounding skirt curtain is removed, so that the canopy plays a rain-proof role during the plum rain season and summer. Covering the canopy with shade netting also has a cooling effect, which can extend the tomato supply period to August or even September.
4. Large shed autumn delayed cultivation: Sow from late June to early July, plant at the end of August, and market from September to December. In October, cover with large shed film for insulation, and multiple layers of covering can be used to extend the supply of fresh tomatoes to New Year's Day.
5. Solar greenhouse cultivation: In areas with sufficient winter sunlight, solar greenhouses can be used to cultivate spring tomatoes.
Seedling raising
Because the seeds are relatively small, even more attention should be paid to the sowing rate and the management of temperature and humidity. Germination occurs at a soil temperature of about 27°C; after germination, the soil temperature should be lowered to 20°C, and attention should be paid to ventilation. When the first true leaf grows but has not yet grown as large as the cotyledons, it should be moved to a seedling pot to promote flower bud differentiation.
Fertilization
To focus on the quality of cherry tomatoes, attention must be paid to the application of organic fertilizer and the control of nitrogen fertilizer dosage. Apply 2500 kg of decomposed compost and barnyard manure per mu, or 2000 kg of human and livestock manure or 100 kg of rapeseed cake, 30 kg of compound fertilizer, and 50 kg of superphosphate as base fertilizer, and regulate growth through water management. When harvesting the first fruits, for every 2-3 clusters of fruit harvested, apply liquid fertilizer 2-3 times according to the strength of growth, but appropriately increase the application of potassium fertilizer.
Field planting
Choose soil with deep soil layers, convenient drainage, and fertile soil, and preferably a plot that has not previously grown crops of the same family. After preparing the land and applying fertilizer, make high beds 30 cm high, plant double rows per bed, with a plant spacing of 30-45 cm, which is good for pruning. To reduce pests and diseases, control weed growth, prevent fruit rot, keep the fruit clean, and increase commercial value, when planting, generally use seedlings with buds on the first inflorescence as the standard for planting .
Pruning
For determinate varieties, promote their growth as much as possible, always keeping 2 strong side branches on the upper part to grow upward, and pay attention to the balance between leaf number and fruit number. If growth is too weak, some flower buds can be removed. For indeterminate types, since the goal is not early maturity, double-stem pruning can be used because the seeds are relatively expensive. But in production, single-stem pruning is mostly used.
Leaf removal
To achieve the goals of improving quality, enhancing light, promoting ventilation, and preventing disease, old leaves below the fruit clusters that have already been harvested can be removed.
Promoting fruit set
Use an electric vibrator for pollination. For some varieties cultivated in seasons with poor pollination, when the vibrator's effect is poor, use sprayed 4-CPA to prevent flower and fruit drop.
Temperature control
In protected cultivation, the night temperature should be higher than that for ordinary tomatoes to improve quality, with the management target being no lower than 9-10°C. If the temperature is too low, the fruit color and flesh quality will deteriorate. At a room temperature of 25°C, ventilation should begin during the day, with not exceeding 35°C being the most ideal; when the afternoon temperature drops below 20°C, close the windows.