The tomato is a perennial plant, generally cultivated as an annual crop. It can be grown in open fields, weather permitting, or in protective structures when temperatures are extreme. In commercial operations, tomatoes are usually planted as a row crop and harvested mechanically when they are still in the green stage. They can also be trained on trellises and harvested throughout most of the year by hand. Tomatoes adapt well and easily to a wide diversity of soils and climates, but they produce best in well-drained soil and temperate climate, with at least a few hours of sunlight each day.

The tomato contains significant amounts of the vitamins A and C, although probably less than the general public has been led to believe. Its importance as a provider of these vitamins depends more on the quantity consumed than on the amount of the vitamins in each fruit. Its vivid color, the fact that it can be used as both a raw and cooked vegetable, and its ability to blend easily with other ingredients has made the tomato a popular international food item and one of the most important vegetables on the world market.

Enormous changes have taken place in the use and distribution of the tomato since the time of its prehistoric origins as a wild, weedy plant. A multidisciplinary research strategy, using archaeological, taxonomical, historical, and linguistic sources is employed in this chapter to trace this remarkable transformation. And finally, special attention is given to the tomatoes of Mexico because that region is believed to have been the center of the domestication of the species and because it is there that tomatoes have the longest history of use, beginning with the indigenous population.