Tomato: Properties and Benefits
Tomato
Tomato is an herbaceous plant belonging to the Solanaceae family, order Tubiflore, originating in South America. Now it’s grown a bit all over for a long time and has been on the market with many horticultural varieties.
After the potato, tomato is the most cultivated vegetable on the planet. Although many fruits and vegetables have a much higher vitamin and mineral content, this is a vegetable which, thanks to its properties, gives the greatest contribution to achieving the recommended daily dose.
Chemical Composition
It contains 93% water, 2.9% carbohydrate, 0.2% fat, 1% protein and 1.8% fiber.
The sugars are represented by glucose and fructose, while the present are more than citric acid, which represents 90% of total acid, and malic acid.
Aminoacids include all those considered essential for food: the acid glutamine, aspartic acid, asparagine and the treolina. Among the pigments are the carotenoids, lycopene (87%) and beta-carotene.
Tomato: Healing Properties and Benefits
The lycopene possesses antioxidant properties, and recent research has discovered that it is able to slow the proliferation of tumor cells. According to a U.S. study, regular consumption of this vegetable dramatically decreasing the risk of ovarian cancer for women and prostate in men.
Its consumption would be able to avoid the formation of carcinogenic substances in the body. Thanks to the lycopene tomato also plays an important protective action of the skin.
In Table
We can say, for being a bit jokes, which is fine in all the tomato sauces. The Perino, copper, cherry … there will be spoiled for choice, is one of the most versatile vegetables, either in its salt, either in its sweet. The best time for the this vegetable is, of course, the summer. A ripe tomato, added to a mixed salad or a caprese, makes a dish extremely lightweight and ideal for a day when the heat is felt, giving us a meal rich in benefits.
Thanks to canned tomatoes can be consumed during the winter in all ways we can think of …. the sauce for the pasta sauce for pizza.
Other Properties
The resources and applications of rhese vegetables are really a lot. For example in the cosmetics the tomato pulp is used as the main ingredient of toning masks and nourishing for the skin. It is helpful to soften the skin using the resulting product from tomato smoothies with a little olive oil. The compound is good even for burning skin due to excessive exposure to sun rays.
Great for small burns, a slice of tomato on the sunburn is a good remedy.
Excellent its properties in terms of stain remover. Try rubbing the pulp of a ripe vegetable on a pan to dissolve tough stains or on products of brass very dirty and you will see the effects.
Freshness and Storage
To recognize the quality of Italian tomato you need to ensure the presence of label on which shall contain the details of the producer and the area of origin. If sold in bulk, the data should be recorded on a blackboard or a sign in plain view.
To assess by eye the freshness of the vegetable, it’s enough to observe the so-called starlet. The plants part that is usually attached to the tomato to be a nice fresh green and not withered.
The optimal temperature for preservation of fresh vegetable and its properties is 10 ° in the refrigerator. There are many varieties of this food and even the storage temperatures vary according to them. The green tomatoes should be kept in the hottest part of the refrigerator, protected with a paper bag, for them the lowest temperatures are deleterious. Those reds can be kept at 5 ° for 5 days.
The maximum benefit you have obviously eaten raw, though recently it was discovered that another important component of tomatoes or lycopene, when cooked is not damaged. As an alternative to fresh tomato can be used just stir-fry with pasta.
Growing Tomato Plants
The types of tomatoes grown are divided into four categories, classified by size: cherry, medium, and large plum, which in turn are subdivided into several types of hybrids. The cherry may be used whole or split in half elle salads, oblong ones are suitable for canning, medium and large lend themselves to be made into slices.
The plants are very sensitive to cold, so much so that in the northern regions are mostly grown in greenhouses. These plant are planted in the greenhouse generally warm to the beginning of February, to be moved outdoors under protection in April, unprotected from the end of April.
For novices, you should buy young plants in pots, with nice healthy leaves and no buds, about twenty centimeters high and with white roots. In late spring, after the last frost, put tomato plants in a pit large, well-manured soil in full sun and sheltered from the wind, with a support support.
When the weather is very dry, these vegetables are in need of frequent and copious watering, while in normal times should not be too wet. If they have too much moisture, or are irregular watering, the fruits tend to split.
Tomato: properties and benefits
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