Tip of the Week: Tempting Tomatoes
Posted in Gardening Tips on August 3 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. |
Tomatoes originated in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where eight different species of tomatoes still grow in the wild. They were first brought to Central America and domesticated by the Aztec, who grew a yellow form of the cherry tomato (Lycopersicon cerasiforme) that they mixed with peppers and salt to create the first salsas.
The Aztec named these little fruits xitomatl, which translates into “plump little thing with a navel.” Subsequent Central American tribes renamed the fruit tomati It was brought to Europe by Spanish and Italian explorers, including Hernando Cortez and Christopher Columbus.
When the tomato first arrived in Europe it was viewed with suspicion. Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), and their foliage is similar to deadly nightshade (Atropus belladonna), which was a well-known poisonous plant used as a hallucinogenic drug and a beauty aid. It was fashionable in medieval courts for women to dilate their pupils with drops made from the plant. When taken as a hallucinogen, the drug induced visions and a feeling of flying that were associated with the practice of witchcraft.
To make matters worse, the upperclass ate off of pewter plates that contained a high lead content. Tomatoes, being high in acid, would cause the lead to leach out, resulting in lead poisoning. The first tomatoes, renamed pomi d’oro or golden apple by the Italians, where thought to be inedible; they were viewed as ornamental plants. Only the poor, who ate off of wooden plates, consumed the fruits.