SC - Tomatoes
Trierarch at aol.com
Trierarch at aol.com
Fri Nov 24 11:12:58 PST 2000
In a message dated 21-Nov-00 9:09:37 PM Pacific Standard Time, ddfr at best.com
writes:
<< As late as 1753, an English writer describes tomatoes as "a
fruit...eaten either stewed or raw by the Spaniards and Italians and
by the Jew families in England." But another writer, at about the
same time, asserts that the tomato is "now much used in England,"
especially for soups and sauces. >>
The common tomato is Native to Central America and Mexico. It was introduced
to native Americans who cultivated the fruit in the 18th Century. The unripe
fruit as well as the leaves and the stems of the plant contain a toxic
alkaloid and are indeed poisonous. Nevertheless, a variety of the tomato did
find its way into Italian cooking by the 16th Century: the Italians named it
'Pomodoro' meaning Golden Apple. The actually name 'tomato' is derived from
'tomalt' or 'Nahuatl' in the language of the Aztecs.
Fortin, Francois/Macmillan, Encylcopedie Visuelle des Aliments,
Quebec/Amerique International, pg. 66-67, 1996.
Donegal Arias Massalla, Califia
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