Yes as long as they are ripe, and not green, tomatoes are perfectly safe for dogs to eat. They are toxic to both us and to our dogs if eaten when still green.
As you may know, because of their seeds, tomatoes are not a vegetable but a fruit. In fact, they are one of the most popular fruits on the planet, owing to their versatility and their beneficial nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, folate and lycopene.
The best way to boost their health benefits is to cook them!
Cook tomatoes to get more of their benefits
Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that helps the body fight off “free radicals” – chemicals that attack and damage cells in the body.
Lycopene is even more effective when tomatoes are cooked because the heat breaks down the fruit’s thick cell walls and makes the lycopene more accessible to the body. That means tomato sauce from paste or tinned tomatoes, can actually provide more lycopene than fresh raw tomatoes.
Our Hearty Umami Stew Recipe includes tomato paste as one of the ingredients for this very reason.
