Too often seen as just a Bloody Mary mixer, a great tomato juice is its own reward. A lesser tomato juice can hide in a Bloody Mary with distractions like Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, lemon juice, garniture and the vodka. The rim of this beauty is dipped in Morton’s Hot Salt, which is seasoned with chipotle pepper. Photo courtesy of Morton Salt.

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April 2006

Main Nibbles / Beverages / Juices

You Say “Tomato”

All Tomato Juice Is Not Created Equal: Here Are Our Rankings Of The Best Tomato Juices

CAPSULE REPORT: In search of a great glass of tomato juice, we pulled everything off store shelves. The clear winner, from R.W. Knudsen, is so rich and tomato-y, it could start a renaissance in this beverage—which today is largely seen as a Bloody Mary mixer. But prior to World War II, many tony restaurants and homes would begin luncheon or dinner with a small glass of to-MAH-to juice.

• Overview
• The Best Tomato Juices
• History Of The Tomato
• Health & Nutrition
• The Tomato: Fruit Or Vegetable?

One of the challenges of working at THE NIBBLE is finding a steady variety of low-calorie, tasty lunches to balance many of the high-calorie chocolates, cakes, cookies and ice creams we taste almost daily as part of our work. Vegetable juices can provide low-calorie variety; but if you don’t have a good juicer, you need to rely on a commercial concern to juice for you. Even finding that most ubiquitous of “vegetable” juices*—tomato juice—is a challenge when your palate is demanding.

*As a reminder, the tomato is a fruit, but it has been accorded vegetable status because it’s savory, not sweet. The avocado and even more surprising fruits—like zucchini and hot peppers—fall into this category. Click here for a detailed explanation.

We found ourselves adding combinations of lemon or lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and horseradish to enliven the tomato juices—practically creating Virgin Marys in order to have something tasty and low calorie. We were purchasing brands out of habit, so we decided to see if there were other juices out there that could stand on their own, unembellished. We rounded up a combination of supermarket, organic and specialty brands, and we started sipping.

Many servings of lycopene later, we had learned two things. First: for something that seems so straightforward—squeezed tomatoes, water and salt†—tomato juice can vary dramatically from brand to brand. Second: tomato juice isn’t just for Bloody Marys. The good ones, at least, are delicious drinks in their own right: substantial, full of flavor and refreshing. Healthful, too. While the exact nutritional breakdown can vary slightly from brand to brand, all good tomato juices are alike in that they are an excellent source of lycopene, the antioxidant linked to fighting certain kinds of cancer, heart disease and other diseases. They are also rich in potassium, folate and vitamins A and C. Generally, one 8-ounce glass of tomato juice provided a full serving of vegetables.

†Commercial tomato juice is generally reconstituted from concentrate.

So read on and drink up! There’s a history of the tomato and nutrition facts on the far side of this chart, as well as an explanation of why the tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable.

The Best Tomato Juices

Brand/Score	Tasting Notes	Calories/ 8 ounces
Campbell’s   Second Best	Campbell’s Tomato Juice has a rich, deep flavor; it tastes almost exactly like a juice version of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. With a squeeze of lime, this is quite a tasty drink. Certified kosher by Kosher Overseers. Learn more at CampbellSoup.com	50
Kagome   Interesting	Kagome Sweet Summer Tomato Juice has a thin consistency; it's light and refreshing, but the added lime flavoring distracts from the tomato flavor.  As with lime-flavored club soda, this can be a preferred solution for some people. For us, it’s better to squeeze fresh lime into a more robust juice. Learn more at Kagome.us	50
R. W. Knudsen The Best	R.W. Knudsen Organic Tomato Juice is THE NIBBLE editors’ favorite, hands down. It's wonderfully substantial with a deep tomato flavor. Tastes like tomatoes at the peak of ripeness, and needs nothing more to be absolutely delicious, not even a squeeze of citrus, although we wouldn’t say no. USDA Certified Organic Learn more at KnudsenJuices.com	60
Lakewood   No Thanks	Lakewood Pure Tomato Juice is a bit sweet and viscous. Surprisingly for a bottle labeled “Pure Tomato,” the tomato flavor is weak, almost absent. (Note: all of the juices in this article are pure tomato, as opposed to mixed vegetable juice like V-8.) USDA Certified Organic Learn more at LakewoodJuices.com	35
Sacramento   O.K.	Sacramento Tomato Juice is nice and full-bodied, but bland compared to the Knudsen and the Campbell’s juices. This is the brand THE NIBBLE’s founder grew up on; when she found herself adding too much lemon to round out the citrus flavor, we decided to see what else was out there. Certified kosher by The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Learn more at RedGold.com	45
Welch’s   Good	Welch’s Tomato Juice has a consistency that falls somewhere between the Kagome and Knudsen juices. It has nice tomato flavor; in the middle of the pack. Learn more at Welchs.com	50

If there are other tomato juices that you think are excellent, click here to tell us about them.

History of the Tomato

The tomato is a native of Mesoamerica: it was cultivated by the Aztecs and Incas. In 1519, Cortez found it growing in Montezuma’s gardens, and it became part of the culinary bounty brought back to Spain (along with chocolate and turkeys) by the 16th-century conquistadors. Most of Europe embraced them, except the British, who believed them to be poisonous (a member of the deadly nightshade family, the leaves are poisonous if consumed in large quantity).

French botanist Tournefort bestowed the Latin botanical name Lycopersicon esculentum, which translates to “wolf-peach,” a reference to the third century writings of Galen concerning a poison in a palatable package which was used to destroy wolves. The English word tomato comes from the word brought back by the Spanish tomatl. Native versions were small, like cherry tomatoes, and most likely yellow rather than red. In Spain and Italy, they were known as pomi d’oro, golden apples.

After five centuries of breeding, there are thousands of varieties of tomatoes in a vast array of shapes, colors and sizes. The most common shapes in the U.S. are round (beefsteak and globe), pear-shaped (roma and plum) and the miniature (cherry and grape).

Health & Nutrition

Far from being poisonous, tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene, which studies continue to show seems to have an ability to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Tomatoes also contain the antioxidants vitamin C and carotenoids (including beta carotene), which are believed to provide protection from free radicals that cause premature aging, cancer, heart disease and cataracts.

Tomatoes are low in calories, about 35 for a medium tomato, but proportionately high in sugar—a corresponding 8 grams. Its juice is naturally low in sodium (one cup has 1% of your daily value) and zero fat. It is also a good source of copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamin and vitamin K; and a very good source of folate, potassium, and vitamins A, B6 and C.

The Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?

Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable? It is the fruit of the tomato plant. Scientifically speaking, it is a fruit: It is developed from the dry ripened ovary in the base of a flower, and contains the seed(s) of the plant (though cultivated tomatoes may be seedless). It can be further classified as a berry since it is pulpy and has edible seeds. Apples, oranges, pears, blueberries, raspberries and oranges are true fruits.† Many kinds of nuts are also true fruits, as are the avocado, tomato and—more surprisingly—the bean pod, bell pepper, hot chile pepper and zucchini.

†Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a fruit, though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry, which has its seeds on the outside, is an example.

Science notwithstanding, on May 10, 1893, tomatoes were declared a vegetable by the United States Supreme Court. At the time, there were import tariffs on vegetables but not fruits, yet tomatoes were still being subjected to the tax. In 1887, an importing company had sued the tax collector of the port of New York to recover back duties collected on their tomatoes, which they claimed had been wrongfully classified as vegetables. The Court decided that the tariff act should be based “in common language of people,” not botanists, so tomatoes should be taxed like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets et al.

A good rule of thumb to determine if something is a fruit is not whether it is sweet, but if it has seeds. That means that acorns, almonds, cucumbers, green beans, squash, walnuts and zucchini are fruits; and the asparagus, broccoli, carrot, celery, lettuce, onion and potato are vegetables.  Non-botanists—cooks and those of us who eat their cooking—call some produce that are scientifically fruit, “vegetables,” because they are savory rather than sweet. By the same token, the term “fruit” is used to refer to vegetables which are not fruits, but are used in sweet cooking—rhubarb, for example.

The fruit of the tomato plant. If you want to be accurate, never call it a vegetable. Photo by Rick Hawkins.

In all of its forms (tomato sauce and juice, e.g., as well as raw), the tomato is the second most widely consumed vegetable in the U.S., after the potato.

And you thought you were just going to learn about a better tomato juice!

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