Tomato Vinaigrette

Tomatoes are packed with healthy substances, such as vitamins and minerals. But the tomato also contains lycopene, which is thought to have a positive effect on your health.

Lycopene is a natural bright red pigment and is a brother of the orange carotene. In our body, lycopene is both an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory and also absorbs ultraviolet radiation.

About 65 million years ago, the earth was hit by a large meteorite near Mexico. The consequences are well known: the dinosaurs became extinct and the earth became uninhabitable for years due to the ' impact winter '. Sunlight could hardly reach the earth and as a result photosynthesis of plants could hardly take place. Plants had to adapt and the tomato mutated to produce lycopene [1] . Lycopene makes photosynthesis possible with very little sunlight. In addition, the bright red color of the pigment was perfect to attract fruit eaters in the twilight world to help spread the seed. When conditions returned to normal, the tomato did not find it necessary to switch off the genes that produced lycopene.

Scientific research has shown that lycopene has a positive effect on inflammation levels in the body. These inflammation levels have a negative effect on the development of lifestyle diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in the long term [2] . The lower these levels, the better it is for you in the long term.

So it’s a good idea to add more tomatoes to your diet and a somewhat unexpected way to do this is with a tomato vinaigrette, a delicious dressing to pour over your salads or pasta.

Ingredients:
- one tablespoon tomato puree
- two tablespoons red wine vinegar
- five fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
- one clove garlic, finely chopped
- a quarter teaspoon sugar
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 100 milliliters extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Put the tomato puree, red wine vinegar, basil, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix everything with a whisk until smooth.

Then add the olive oil one tablespoon at a time and mix again with the whisk. Only add the next tablespoon when the previous one has been completely absorbed. This creates a vinaigrette, a mixture of oil and water. Since the two do not mix, they will slowly separate again. Before pouring the tomato vinaigrette over your dish, whisk it well again.

[1] The Tomato Genome Consortium: The tomato genome sequence provides insights into fleshy fruit evolution in Nature - 2012
[2] Van Steenwijk et al: The Role of Circulating Lycopene in Low-Grade Chronic Inflammation: A Systematic Review of the Literature in Molecules - 2020.