According to the USDA, Americans consumed 31.1 pounds of tomatoes per capita in 2013, 59% of them in canned form (much of which, presumably, went into tomato sauce).

Botanically speaking, the tomato is a fruit, but 122 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it, for tax reasons, a vegetable. (Ah, if the enlightened justices of today would just reverse that misguided decision. More about it is below.)

Thanks to Restaurant Hospitality for passing along this recipe from Chef Jack Gilmore of Jack Allen’s Kitchen in Austin, Texas.

Serve it as you would a quiche: in small wedges as a first course, as a main with a salad.

RECIPE: TOMATO BASIL PIE

Ingredients

This pie is filled with sweet summer tomatoes and three types of cheese.
Photo courtesy Jack Allen’s Kitchen |
Austin.

1. SEASON the tomato slices lightly with salt and pepper, and allow them to drain on a paper towel (the salt draws out the water).

2. PREHEAT the oven to 300°F. Combine the cheeses in small bowl.

3. LAYER the tomatoes in the pie shell. Place basil pieces on top of them. Sprinkle the cheese mixture on top of the basil.

4. WHISK together the eggs and mayonnaise in small bowl, and pour evenly over the pie ingredients. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.
 

WHY A TOMATO IS CALLED A VEGETABLE INSTEAD OF A FRUIT

Who would think, when looking at the seriousness of the Supreme Court’s docket today, that in 1893 they would take up the argument of whether the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit. The eight or nine cases the Court can adjudicate each year cover Constitutional rights and federal law.

United States Supreme Court decisions have shaped history. So how does the classification of the tomato fit in? It made it onto the docket because of a federal law regarding import taxes.
 
It Was All About The Import Tax

The Tariff Act of 1883 stipulated that a 10% import tax be paid on imported vegetables, but no tax was levied on imported fruit*. John Nix, an importer of tomatoes, filed the action against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Customs House for the Port of New York. Nix wanted to recover back taxes he had paid on tomatoes. His case asserted that he was importing a fruit, but being taxed as if it were a vegetable.

How To Tell If It’s A Fruit

Botanically speaking the tomato is a fruit. A fruit is the ripened ovary, formed together with seeds, from from the flowers of a plant. This how the tomato is formed.

In easier terms, here’s how to think of a fruit:

 
The issue is not how any particular culture chooses to consume a particular item of produce (sweet or savory, raw or cooked, etc.), but the botanical structure of the item. Thus, avocado is a fruit (it’s a tree fruit, like apples and pears) as are cucumbers (relatives to melons).

With science on his side, vendor Nix sued customs collector Hedden, and the case made its way through the court system—all the way to the Supreme Court.
 
But The Court Disagreed With Science

In a unanimous opinion, the Court held that the Tariff Act of 1883 used the ordinary meaning of the words “fruit” and “vegetable,” as people thought of them, instead of the scientific, botanical use. The opinion delivered by Justice Gray stated:

“Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of provisions, all these are vegetables which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, and lettuce, usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert.” (Source: caselaw.lp.findlaw.com)

Wrong perspective, Justice Gray. The laws of nature should stand as is, not subjected to interpretation to fit cultural norms. Today, you can find tomato desserts (ice cream and sorbet, for starters). There are other crossovers. For example, rhubarb, a vegetable, is often prepared for dessert.

And you should have had better clerks do your research: Beans and pea are legumes, not vegetables.

Politically, the decision also meant more tax revenue for the United States. We guess we’re not going to get the Supreme Court to reverse the decision.

Slow-roast them and all of that rich, summer tomato sweetness will get concentrated into each bite.

Buy two or three times as many as you need this week—ideally, an assortment of red, orange and yellow. Set aside what you’ll use fresh. Then:

 
But before those two weeks are up, you can easily use them up:

 
RECIPE: SUNDRIED TOMATO CROSTINI

One of our favorite snacks, crostini with sundried cherry tomatoes, can be made in a minute (or as fast as it takes to toast the bread.

There’s the tried and true banana split, of course. Classically served in a long dish, called a boat (which gives the sundae its alternative name, banana boat), the recipe is familiar to most ice cream lovers:

A banana is cut in half lengthwise and set in the dish with scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream.

The strawberry ice cream is garnished with pineapple topping, chocolate syrup is poured on the vanilla ice cream and strawberry topping covers the chocolate ice cream.

Finally, crushed nuts, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries garnish the sundae.

Today, there are many variations to the classic banana split. We’ve had Deconstructed Banana Splits (photo #3), Banana Split Cheesecake and the recipe below, Banana Split Sushi from RA Sushi.

> The history of the banana split is below.

> The history of ice cream.

> The history of the ice cream sundae.

> The history of the banana.

> The history of the sushi.

> The different types of sushi: a photo glossary.

> The 10 banana holidays.

 
 
RECIPE: BANANA SPLIT SUSHI

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
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*You can easily make strawberry purée by processing the berries with a bit of sweetener to taste, and a splash of lemon or lime juice.

[1] Banana Split Sushi at RA Sushi in Orlando (photo © RA Sushi).

[2] Make sure the bananas are ripe but firm (photo © Dole).

[3] Here’s the recipe for this deconstructed banana split with grilled bananas (photo © Sushi Samba).

1. CUT the bananas into 1-1/2 inch slices. While a restaurant can deep-fry the bananas in tempura batter, you can use a simpler approach: Combine the bananas, fat, honey and cinnamon in a nonstick pan over medium heat and fry until golden brown (4-5 minutes on each side).

2. ARRANGE each cooked banana piece on a plate as desired and top with a kiwi slice, which is the base for the remaining toppings. Add the clementine segment, whipped cream, and strawberry halves.

3. DRIZZLE with chocolate sauce and strawberry purée. Serve with chopsticks.
 

[5] “Doc” Strickland later purchased the pharmacy where he invented the banana split. This photo, circa 1962, is via Baltzer Meyer Historical Society, as are photos #6 and #7 below.

BANANA SPLIT HISTORY

The soda fountains of yore were the equivalent of today’s Starbuck’s, where people met for refreshments and socializing. Soda jerks were the mixologists of their day*, inventing treats to excite customers. Malted milks, banana splits and phosphates emerged at the soda fountains of neighborhood drugstore in the 1890s.

In those days, “jerk” was not a derogatory term; it referred to the quick, sharp pull as the attendant drew the carbonated water tap forward.

David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania*, enjoyed taking on the soda jerk role and inventing sundaes at the store’s soda fountain. He invented the banana-based triple scoop ice cream sundae in 1904.

The sundae originally cost 10 cents, twice the price of other sundaes, and caught on with students of nearby Saint Vincent College. In those pre-digital days, news of the nifty new sundae quickly spread by word-of-mouth, written correspondence, and newspaper coverage.

Strickler later designed the elongated “boat” glass banana split dish.

He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and became both a pharmacist and an optometrist, and became known as “Doc” Strickler. He later purchased the Latrobe Pharmacy where he’d invented the banana split; he located his optometry practice upstairs.

It must have done well for Strickler: He went on to buy the pharmacy, renaming it Strickler’s Pharmacy.

The city of Latrobe celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of the banana split in 2004. In the same year, the National Ice Cream Retailers Association certified Latrobe as the birthplace of the banana split. It hosts an annual Great American Banana Split Festival in August (it starts today).

We don’t know if he consumed many banana splits, but he lived a long live, passing in 1971 at the age of 90.

The city has the original soda fountain where the banana split was created.

Here’s the history of the ice cream sundae, and the long history of ice cream in general.

[6] The inside of the pharmacy, circa 1950.

[7] The commemorative plaque in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
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*According to Wikipedia, Walgreens is credited with spreading the popularity of the banana split. A chain of drug stores established in the Chicago area in 1901 by Charles Rudolph Walgreen, Walgreens promoted the banana split as a signature dessert. But was it served when the store opened or did someone at Walgreens read the recipe and adopt it? Did Walgreens bestow the name Banana Split to the “banana-based triple ice cream sundae”? The record is mute.
 
 

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