The Fascinating History Of Tomatoes

The Fascinating History Of Tomatoes
The history of tomatoes is a rich story with amazing facts. If you dig into the tomato history you will know that tomato is one of the few crops, which are native to the Western Hemisphere. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a plant of the Solanaceae family. The word “tomato” is derived from the word ‘tomatl’ in the Nahuatl language. The tomatoes originated in the coastal highlands of western South America. From there the tomatoes traveled to Central America where the Mayan Indians used them as food. Then tomatoes traveled eastward to Europe with the conquest of Mexico in 1519. By 1900 tomatoes become a staple diet for Americans.

Digging Into The History Of Tomatoes

The origins of tomato history can be traced back around 700 A.D to the early Aztecs. They knew how to grow tomato. So the tomato is a native plant of America. Tomato reached Europe around 16th century when the early explorers started exploring new lands.

French botanist Tournefort christened tomato in Latin and botany by the name of Lycopersicon esculentum, which translates to “wolfpeach” in English. The tomato was considered a peach because of its roundness and succulence and ‘wolf’ because it was thought mistakenly as poisonous. Tournefort mistook tomato for the wolfpeach referred to by Galen in third century in his writings as a toothsome package used to destroy wolves. The Europeans thought the bright and shiny tomatoes of the Spanish to be poisonous.

Cortez discovered tomatoes growing in Montezuma's gardens in 1519 and brought tomato seeds to Europe. The tomato plants were planted in Europe ornamentally but tomatoes were not eaten as they were thought to be poisonous. Probably the first variety to reach Europe was yellow in color. In Europe, these tomatoes were known as ‘pomi d’oro’ or yellow apples. The first place outside South America where Tomatoes were cultivated was Italy.

The journey of tomato was set in motion when soup mogul Joseph Campbell created condensed tomato soup. This soup also took the company to soaring heights and made tomato popular to general public. However, the first recipe of tomato soup is credited to Maria Parloa who penned the recipe of tomato chowder in her 1872 recipe book.

The History Of Tomatoes Throughout The World

Spain

After Spain conquered America the Spanish distributed tomatoes throughout their Caribbean colonies. They also introduced tomatoes to Philippines from where it traveled to Asia. The Spanish introduced tomatoes in Europe and it grew easily in Mediterranean climates.

Italy

In Italy, tomato was first used decoratively till the peasants discovered that tomatoes could be eaten. Thus, the culinary development centering tomato started in around 18th century.

Britain

John Gerard was a barber-surgeon and one of the earliest cultivators of tomato in England. His writing ‘Herbal’ published in 1597 was one of the earliest discussions on tomato in England. He believed tomato to be poisonous.

However, by the mid 1700, British people started eating tomatoes widely and this acceptance is clearly stamped by the end of the century in Encyclopedia Britannica, which stated tomato as "in daily use" as garnish, on soups and broths.

Thus, the fascinating history of tomatoes entered the recent age of numerous uses for tomatoes. More will be revealed as the weeks go by.