Tomato
History
Detailed Contents: Tomato History-Fruit, Vegetable; or
Poisonous Ornamental Plant-Tomato Recipes-Stewed Tomatoes-Chilli -Stewed Fresh
Tomatoes-Stewed Green Tomatoes and Pepper-Tomatoes and Eggplant-Savoury
Tomatoes, Beans, and Squash-Fried Ripe Tomatoes-Fried Green Tomatoes-Fried
Green Tomatoes and Cucumber Slices-Fried Tomatoes with Béchamel Sauce-Baked
Tomatoes-Broiled Tomatoes-Scalloped/Au Gratin Tomatoes
Tomato History
It was not until about 1830
that tomatoes lost their
"proud" place in the flower
garden and were placed
with the onions, cabbages
and other
Common Vegetables.
Like beans, corn, melons, potatoes,
and squash, the tomato has origins traced back to the early Aztecs and Incas in
SOUTH AMERICA around 700 AD and, although there has recently been discovered
very strong evidence as to a much earlier Asian origin of all these vegetables,
because this discovery plays havoc with many “First Nations” land claims, it is
generally believed or at least stated, that the tomato is probably native to
that continent.
It was not until around the 16th
century that Europeans, and later, through them North Americans, were
introduced to this fruit when early explorers set out to discover new lands.
Throughout Southern Europe, the tomato was quickly accepted into the kitchen,
yet as it moved north, more resistance was apparent. The British, for example,
admired the tomato for its beauty, but believed that it was poisonous, as its
appearance was similar to that of the wolf peach.
It was not regarded as a kitchen
vegetable in North or Central America until the times preceding the Civil War
period in the United States. From this point forward, tomatoes have become a
staple item in the kitchens throughout the world. Each area of the world has
its own tomato history and how it is used in everyday dining. It appears that
tomatoes have had the largest impact on Canadian and American eating habits, as
they are responsible for enjoying over 12 million tons of tomatoes each year.
An interesting aspect of tomato
history is the now classic debate: Is the tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable? I
guess that depends on whom you are asking. By definition, a fruit is the edible plant
structure of a mature ovary of a flowering plant, usually eaten raw,
some are sweet like apples, peaches, or pears, but the ones that are not sweet
such as beans, cucumbers, pea, peppers etc. are commonly called vegetables.
Botanists claim that a fruit is any fleshy material that covers a seed or
seeds, where a horticulturalist point of view would pose that tomatoes are a
vegetable plant.
Until the late 1800’s the
tomato was classified as a fruit to avoid taxation, but this was changed after
a largely unsubstantiated American Supreme Court ruling that the tomato is used
as a vegetable and should be taxed accordingly.
When all is said and done, the history
of the tomato has classified it as a poisonous, beautiful plant, a tax-avoiding
fruit and as a taxable vegetable. Nonetheless, the tomato is the most popular
fruit/vegetable in Canada and enjoyed by billions all over the world. Today
it’s impossible to imagine Italian cuisine without the tomato. The English
adopted it for a popular English breakfast dish: grilled tomatoes with rashers
of bacon or grilled kidneys. This is still an outstanding breakfast
combination. Modern Canadians have made up for lost time by using tomatoes in
an amazing variety of ways: they go into juice and into soups and sauces: they
are baked, grilled, fried and stewed, and eaten raw in salads or with
hamburger; they make ketchup, chilli sauce, and pickles. They even go into a
pie.
The French tagged the tomato as
pomme d’ amour…English swains, not to be outdone presented tomatoes as tokens
of affection.
These
strange amorous apples be of two sorts, one red and the other yellow, but in
all other ways they be like.
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