English Tastes Warm up to Popular Tomatoes

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England, 1595
The Tomato,

a fruit regarded with suspicion until recently in England is finally making its way from the ornamental garden to the dining table.

A Plant native to the coastal highlands of western South America, the tomato first emigrated first to Central America and then to Mexico, where the indigenous peoples first crossbred and cultivated them, naming them tomato

Imported to Europe from the New World by Spanish conquistadores early this century, the tomato initially suffered from mistaken identity. European botanists it as a member of the Solanaceae family, whose only local relatives are the deliriants, mandrake, and deadly nightshade, leading to the inference that the fruit of the tomato must also be poisonous.

In fact,

the Solanaceae family also includes such useful and decorative plants as tobacco, chili, sweet pepper, eggplant, potato, and petunia – all previously unknown in Europe but now achieving widespread use.

In his 1544 book,

Italian herbalist Matthiolus documents the existence of tomatoes in local gardens and reports that Italians ate them. It will be interesting to see how they are used in Italian cuisine. The popular English herbalist John Gerard wrote that, while Spaniards and Italians ate tomatoes, the plant was nevertheless “of rank and stinking savour.” It has already achieved a variety of nicknames. The Dutch botanist Dodoens labeled it “an amorous apple,” observing that tomatoes “be of two sorts, one red and the other yellow, but in all other poyntes they be lyke.”

In Italy,

it is called “Moor’s apple,” pomo dei mori, and another name with a similar sound, poma amoris, or “love apple.” The French use the same term, pomme d’amour.  The English call it “stinking golden apple,” and routinely throw it at mediocre actors and other performers as a sign of displeasure.

and so it was, they say!!