There is more to a tomato that meets the eye
WWhen I first started vegetable gardening, I thought tomatoes came in three colours, green(unripe), orange (almost ripe), and red (ready to pick).
There is so much more to tomatoes than I realised and for the past few years I have been growing heirloom tomatoes. I have also been doing my own research on growing types of vegetables that have the added bonus of health benefits.
Heritage tomatoes
I have read that tomatoes were first discovered in Peru but have also read that the first tomatoes found were by the
Spanish in Mexico in the early 1500s and taken back to Europe. When they arrived in Italy, they were named pomodoro: “golden fruit.” The debate is still going on about the origin of the tomato but from what I have read the first tomato was probably orange in colour.
So, whether it was the Mexicans,
Spanish, Peruvians, or whoever, that found or cultivated tomatoes, all I can say is I am so pleased they did!
For years, tomatoes were just grown as a plant and the fruit not eaten. This humble fruit has been through a lot of name changes in its life. These have included wolf peach and gold apple.
In France, it was called a love apple (pomme d’amour) and thought to be an aphrodisiac. Because the tomato was mistakenly considered to be poisonous by many, it was referred to as the “poison apple.”
My grandfather who grew wonderful large beefsteak tomatoes told me that tomatoes were a relative of deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). It is a fact that the leaves, stems and roots of the tomato contain solanine, a neurotoxin, and thus should not be eaten.
The apparent proof of the tomato’s poisonous nature was based on a false
assumption.
I remember reading that when tomatoes first became popular, upper-class Europeans did die after consuming them, the fault not being with the tomato but with the pewter dinnerware that they ate from.
The elevated level of acidity in tomatoes leached lead from the pewter, and those wealthy enough to afford to dine on pewter dinnerware died from lead poisoning after consuming tomato-based dishes.
Luckily, my purse only stretches to china so I will live to tell the tale!
I discussed my grandfather’s tomato growing success often with him. He told me when he first started growing tomatoes, he used to put his excess whitebait in a small trench he dug and covered before planting his yearly crop. ... can you imagine excess whitebait. . . and being used as compost! He really did grow huge beefsteak tomatoes, so there really was something in that whitebait that fed those plants.
If you have not tried growing heirloom tomatoes, give it a go. They are so much more flavoursome, and
I have had no trouble with plant disease. A website that has a wonderful selection of tomato seeds is https:// www.heritagefoodcrops.org.nz/. Try growing a selection and while you are at it read up about their beans that they harvest .... you will be growing more than tomatoes next year!