Tomato Facts, what do you know about Tomatoes?

There is a lot of interesting tomato facts to know. Amazingly the tomato belongs to the nightshade variety of plants, the poisonous Solanceae family! There are so many tomato legends and tomato myths revolving round tomato plants, here is just a taster.

Some Interesting Tomato Facts And Tomato Myths

The history of tomato facts can be traced to the old South American civilization. The origin of tomato can be traced back to the Aztecs around 700 A.D. So tomato is native to America. Legends suggest that one person introduced tomato to the United States. Many stories name Thomas Jefferson as the introducer.

Tomato reached Europe around 16th century when the early explorers started their expeditions. As tomato is a member of the nightshade family, tomatoes were feared as poisonous when it arrived in Europe.

Another legend suggests that tomatoes were considered as aphrodisiacs and therefore the Puritans shunned them. Tomato was thought as an aphrodisiac due to a mistranslation. The legend goes like this, while on travel a Frenchman had meal with tomatoes in it. The taste of tomato enthralled him. He asked the Italian chef the name of the new ingredient. The chef answered “Pomme de’ Moors” (Apple of the Moors) but the Frenchman heard “ Pomme d’ Amore” (Apple of Love). Thus tomato became an aphrodisiac.

Until 1820 tomatoes were considered poisonous in US. The story goes like this, the suspicions about tomatoes being poisonous was put to rest in 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced that he would eat a basket of tomatoes in front of Salem, New Jersey courthouse at noon on September 26. More than 2000 people gathered in front of the courthouse to watch the death of the Colonel after eating the poisonous fruits. But Robert Johnson lived even after eating tomatoes. This tomato legend became a subject of a CBS broadcast of You Are There in 1949.

Some French Facts About Tomatoes

Tomato facts in France are interesting. The iconic color of French Revolution is red. Red tomatoes became popular in France during French Revolution. There were two reasons behind the popularity of tomatoes, one is that the European Royalty was wary about this poisonous nightshade family member and secondly at some point the revolutionaries were suggested to eat red food as a show of loyalty. There is an interesting tomato myth behind it, once a zealous chef suggested that the revolutionaries should eat red food as a sign of devotion to the cause of revolution. Thus, tomatoes became popular among Republican masses.

Some other Interesting Tomato Facts

- As per the 1996 edition of the Guinness Book of Records the largest ever tomato grown weighed in at 7 pounds and 12 ounces (about 3.5Kg to you modernist!).

- There is a superstition that if you place ripe tomatoes on a mantel when first entering your new dwelling it will guarantee future prosperity and ward off evil spirits.

- In nurseries, tomato seedlings are placed in greenhouses to warn of leaking gas heaters as they cannot survive even minute amount of natural gas.

- There are numerous recipes for tomato sauce and each Italian family’s beloved sauce is different as expressed by the popular Sicilian expression, “He is always different, like a sauce.”

The story of tomatoes is full of enjoyable and amazing tomato facts I will bring out more as the months roll by.