Tomate de Arbol, growing somewhere in Ecuador.  I forget where; Tomate grow in all biomes and areas of Ecuador.  Tomate de Arbol are shrubs to small trees native to the Andes.  They have broad, slightly hairy leaves and bear their flowers in pendant clusters.  Egg-shaped and roughly egg-sized fruits follow, which ripen to red or yellow.  Tomates, due to their shallow root system, are susceptible to wind damage and can actually be blown right out of the ground in strong storms.  Propagation is by seed or more commonly by woody cutting; the shrub prefers free-draining soils and full sun, but requires abundant water.

Tomates, also called Tamarillos or Tree Tomatoes, are edible; many Andeans say that their flavour is superior to “conventional” tomatos.  The skin is tough and the Tomate must be peeled before eating, but it can be eaten raw and in the South of Ecuador is a common fruit for snacking out-of-hand.  The easiest way to eat a Tomate is to simply bite a hole in the skin and squeeze the flesh into your mouth.  Two cultivars exist - red skinned fruits and yellow skinned fruits; the more common of the two in Ecuador is the red-skinned variety.  Tomate are considered a “swing” fruit - that is, they are added to both savoury main courses (often in place of conventional tomatos) and eaten as a sweet dessert.  The most notable of these dishes is whole peeled Tomate stewed in cinnamon syrup with cloves.

The red jelly surrounding the seeds of some Tomates (not all) is a strong dye that retains its burgundy character when set with vinegar; the peels of either variety yield a saffron-yellow dye that mordants well with alum.