Tomatoes summer's main attraction: bursting with cancer-preventing lycopene and fresh flavor, tomatoes deserve a starring role on your plate this season.(FOOD: FRESH PICKED)

Almost nothing captures the essence of summer better than a glowing, ripe tomato. The tomato doesn't whisper of summer's sweetness, it proclaims it from the rooftops. To many, summer just isn't summer without bushels of tomatoes bursting with flavor and goodness.

And we're not talking about the pallid blobs that you've seen all winter in your local supermarket; we're talking about a riotous display of forms and colors--from tiny and round to heart-shaped giants, from creamy white to scarlet, orange, yellow and purple and even rainbow stripes. You'll find them prominently displayed at your local farmers' markets and health food stores. Heirloom varieties range from the well-known Brandywine and Mortgage Lifter to the more obscure (and intriguingly named) Box Car Willie. And they are incredibly good for you. So grab your canvas shopping bag and rush out to sample these powerhouses of health.

A Vegetable or Fruit?

Although we always think of this member of the nightshade family as a vegetable, botanically the tomato is a fruit, though nutritionally it is characterized as a vegetable.

First found growing wild a millennium ago on the western side of South America, tomatoes made their way north into Central America and Mexico. The Spanish Conquistadores carried them back home, which prompted tomatoes' conquest of the Old World.

Let Us Count the Ways ...

The tomato is so chock-full of beneficial compounds that it's hard to know where to begin. But that premier position should undoubtedly be given to lycopene, a cancer-preventing carotenoid that makes the tomato a flaming sword in cancer prevention. Lycopene has been extensively studied in humans, and has been shown to provide an effective defense against a long list of cancers, including colorectal, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancers.