The tomato is the edible, often red, berry of the nightshade Solanum lycopersicum. The many seeded fruit is used in salads and cooking.
The wild tomato originated in the Andes mountains of Peru, but the Aztecs subsequently started cultivating them.
The word tomato comes from the Aztec "tomatl", meaning "plump thing with a navel".
The Spanish explorers brought the tomato to Spain from Mexico, a Moor brought it to Tangiers. From there, an Italian brought it to Italy.
The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli. An Italian physician and botanist, Mattioli suggested that a new type of eggplant had been brought to Italy that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil.
However it wasn't until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as pomi d'oro, or "golden apple." The Italian for tomato is still "Pomodoro," which means "golden apple."
The word "tomato" was first seen in English in The Naturall And Morall Historie Of The East and West Indies published by Edward Grimston in 1604, which also introduced the word chocolate. However, until the 18th century, the tomato was more often called the love-apple in English. That name derived from the fact that the tomato was once seen as an aphrodisiac.
In the 1500s the wealthy had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes and led to Europeans fearing eating the fruit.
Although there was some culinary use of tomatoes by the Italians, it was not widespread, as most Europeans were convinced that tomatoes were both a lethal poison and an aphrodisiac, rendering them a danger both to spiritual and physical health. Their acceptance by Europeans as food was very slow. It was not until the 1800s that tomatoes became widely eaten in Europe.
Tomato sauce is not Italian at all but Mexican. The first tomato sauces were already being sold in the markets of Tenochtitlan when Spaniards arrived, and had many of the same ingredients (tomatoes, bell peppers, chilies) that would later define Italian tomato pasta sauces a few hundred years later.
A remarkably progressive Virginia farmer as well as statesman, Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes at his Monticello home, not to eat but as a curiosity. Not many colonists realized tomatoes were edible, indeed many Americans still feared tomatoes to be poisonous.
Tomatoes were put "on trial" on June 28, 1820 in Salem, New Jersey. In front of a courthouse, gentleman farmer Colonel Robert G Johnson ate a basket of tomatoes in order to demonstrate they weren't poisonous. The crowd waited for him to die. He didn't.
An expansive marketing campaign by a Pennsylvania tomato canning factory in 1848 included sending samples to the American President James K Polk and Queen Victoria. As a result of this campaign tomatoes began to gain acceptance in America and Britain.
Although tomatoes are botanically a fruit, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1893 for the purpose of levying a tariff that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.
In 1939, Maine passed legislation to make it illegal to put tomatoes in clam chowder.
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| Pixiebay |
HISTORY
The wild tomato originated in the Andes mountains of Peru, but the Aztecs subsequently started cultivating them.
The word tomato comes from the Aztec "tomatl", meaning "plump thing with a navel".
The Spanish explorers brought the tomato to Spain from Mexico, a Moor brought it to Tangiers. From there, an Italian brought it to Italy.
The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli. An Italian physician and botanist, Mattioli suggested that a new type of eggplant had been brought to Italy that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil.
However it wasn't until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as pomi d'oro, or "golden apple." The Italian for tomato is still "Pomodoro," which means "golden apple."
 |
| Sheet from the oldest tomato collection of Europe, 1542–1544. Naturalis Leiden.. By Naturalis Biodiversity Center |
The word "tomato" was first seen in English in The Naturall And Morall Historie Of The East and West Indies published by Edward Grimston in 1604, which also introduced the word chocolate. However, until the 18th century, the tomato was more often called the love-apple in English. That name derived from the fact that the tomato was once seen as an aphrodisiac.
In the 1500s the wealthy had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes and led to Europeans fearing eating the fruit.
Although there was some culinary use of tomatoes by the Italians, it was not widespread, as most Europeans were convinced that tomatoes were both a lethal poison and an aphrodisiac, rendering them a danger both to spiritual and physical health. Their acceptance by Europeans as food was very slow. It was not until the 1800s that tomatoes became widely eaten in Europe.
Tomato sauce is not Italian at all but Mexican. The first tomato sauces were already being sold in the markets of Tenochtitlan when Spaniards arrived, and had many of the same ingredients (tomatoes, bell peppers, chilies) that would later define Italian tomato pasta sauces a few hundred years later.
A remarkably progressive Virginia farmer as well as statesman, Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes at his Monticello home, not to eat but as a curiosity. Not many colonists realized tomatoes were edible, indeed many Americans still feared tomatoes to be poisonous.
Tomatoes were put "on trial" on June 28, 1820 in Salem, New Jersey. In front of a courthouse, gentleman farmer Colonel Robert G Johnson ate a basket of tomatoes in order to demonstrate they weren't poisonous. The crowd waited for him to die. He didn't.
An expansive marketing campaign by a Pennsylvania tomato canning factory in 1848 included sending samples to the American President James K Polk and Queen Victoria. As a result of this campaign tomatoes began to gain acceptance in America and Britain.
Although tomatoes are botanically a fruit, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1893 for the purpose of levying a tariff that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.
In 1939, Maine passed legislation to make it illegal to put tomatoes in clam chowder.
A Tomato plant in Disney's Epcot Center broke a world record in 2016 for producing over 32,000 tomatoes
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world produced 170.8 millions of tonnes of tomatoes in 2014.
By far the biggest producer was China with 31 per cent of the world's total.
Tomatoes are members of the deadly nightshade family.
There are 10,000 types of tomatoes.
Tomatoes have more genes and stronger survival instincts than humans.
FUN TOMATO FACTS
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world produced 170.8 millions of tonnes of tomatoes in 2014.
By far the biggest producer was China with 31 per cent of the world's total.
Tomatoes are members of the deadly nightshade family.
There are 10,000 types of tomatoes.
Tomatoes have more genes and stronger survival instincts than humans.
L Ron Hubbard, the founder of scientology, believed that tomatoes feel pain and that - if it is quiet enough - you can hear them scream when they are sliced.
Tomatoes are picked green and ripened by exposing them to Ethylene gas. This gas changes their color to red, but does not change their flavor, leaving them bland.
US President Ronald Reagan disliked tomatoes and is said not to have eaten one for 70 years.
Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio and the tomato is its state vegetable.
When tomatoes are stored in a refrigerator (or in an environment under 54° F o 12° C) their flavor is impacted negatively.
The annual La Tomatina Festival in Buñol, Spain, in August attracts some 20,000 visitors who throw 125,000kg of ripe tomatoes at each other.
Sources Daily Express, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
Tomatoes are picked green and ripened by exposing them to Ethylene gas. This gas changes their color to red, but does not change their flavor, leaving them bland.
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| By Prosthetic Head - Own work, Wikipedia |
US President Ronald Reagan disliked tomatoes and is said not to have eaten one for 70 years.
Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio and the tomato is its state vegetable.
When tomatoes are stored in a refrigerator (or in an environment under 54° F o 12° C) their flavor is impacted negatively.
The annual La Tomatina Festival in Buñol, Spain, in August attracts some 20,000 visitors who throw 125,000kg of ripe tomatoes at each other.
Sources Daily Express, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
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