Good old tomato
THERE'S a group of Baguio-Benguet "home growers" with a very inspiring Facebook presence suddenly making me want to plant tomatoes. The tomato has been around for the longest time. It has in this healthy age even become a food star. Especially as it is the one plant that contains more lycopene than any other. Lycopene is, of course, a powerful antioxidant and is currently strongly recommended to help reduce the risk of some cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Besides lycopene, the tomato has the antioxidant Vitamin C, Vitamin A, an essential vitamin important in maintaining normal cellular growth, Vitamin K, a vitamin important to blood clotting and to bone health, potassium, an essential mineral that helps regulate blood pressure and aids muscle contractions, and the digestive helper, fiber.
The tomato can also be used to treat burns. I know of someone who suffered a whole body burn from a fire accident, and lived. To treat her grandchild's burned skin, the wise grandmother of this “someone,” covered her whole body with tomato sluice on the skin. As a consequence, the child suffered no burn scars nor marks, and lived to thrive, too. Like magic.
Edgar Cayce, the “sleeping prophet,” decades ago was already recorded as giving readings extolling the tomato's health benefits.
From a reading: “Of all the vegetables, tomatoes carry most of the vitamins in a well-balanced assimilative manner for the activities in the system. Yet if these are not cared for properly, they may become very destructive to a physical organism; that is, if they ripen after being pulled, or if there is the contamination with other influences."
He also advised against eating canned tomatoes unless they were canned fresh and vine-ripened: "Beware of raw tomatoes, unless well-ripened on the vine - not those gathered green and then ripened. Preferably use these cooked or canned, rather than raw - unless well ripened when gathered - from the vine. "When canned, he cautioned against using sodium benzoate as a preservative.
Such today advice from a half century ago, from miles away. Remember: ripen them on the vine.-from Sun.Star Baguio