Is A Tomato A Fruit?

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The classical vegetable/fruit story is the tetchy tale of the tomato. In 1886, importer John Nix and colleagues landed a load of West Indian tomatoes at the Port of New York where the resident customs official - one Edward Hedden - demanded payment of a ten percent tax in accordance with the Tariff Act of 1883, which levied an import duty on 'foreign vegetables.'

Nix, who knew his botany, objected, on the grounds that the tomato - a fruit - should be tax-exempt. The case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court where, in 1893, Justice Horace Gray ruled in favor of vegetable.