SC - Poisonous Tomatoes?y

Mon Nov 27 20:24:12 PST 2000

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In a message dated 11/27/00 12:37:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
jenne at mail.browser.net writes:

> My suspicion is that the belief that tomatoes were poisonous may well have
> been a superstition common in Northern Europe, but not reflected in
> scholarly treatises.
> 

Something that has not been said is the fact that in most Northern European 
countries the climate simply is not conducive to producing viable fruit on a 
tomato plant within the short and cool growing season that exists. Even today 
in Wales and, for that matter in most of England, tomatoes must be grown 
under glass to provide ripe fruit for table use. Although we have varieties 
now that are bred for short season production, these varieties simply did not 
exist during the period oaf time that is under discussion. 

Granted tomatoes can (and do produce nice foliage under circumstances which 
include large amounts of moisture and animal manures (an agricultural 
practice used in period) such conditions while producing large SHOWY 
ornamental plants would not have produced fruiting bodies that would have 
been very useful outside the ornamental garden.

I understand that this has little to do with whether they were considered 
poisonous or not but it has a great amount of bearing on why their use as a 
food product was delayed after their discovery and introduction to Europe. 
Climatic conditions in Spain, Italy and Portugal (where they were apparently 
used by more people earlier on) was more conducive to the maturation and 
harvest of fruiting bodies in an amount which would have made them 
agriculturally appealing.

I would suggest without any evidence to prove it that the had nots may well 
have invented the poisonous theory to assuage their guilt over their 
inability to grow the fruit.

Ras
The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.- Solomon Ibn Gabirol

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<HTML>In a message dated 11/27/00 12:37:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, jenne at mail.browser.net writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">My suspicion is that the belief that tomatoes were poisonous may well have
 been a superstition common in Northern Europe, but not reflected in
 scholarly treatises.
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 
 Something that has not been said is the fact that in most Northern European countries the climate simply is not conducive to producing viable fruit on a tomato plant within the short and cool growing season that exists. Even today in Wales and, for that matter in most of England, tomatoes must be grown under glass to provide ripe fruit for table use. Although we have varieties now that are bred for short season production, these varieties simply did not exist during the period oaf time that is under discussion. 
 
 Granted tomatoes can (and do produce nice foliage under circumstances which include large amounts of moisture and animal manures (an agricultural practice used in period) such conditions while producing large SHOWY ornamental plants would not have produced fruiting bodies that would have been very useful outside the ornamental garden.
 
 I understand that this has little to do with whether they were considered poisonous or not but it has a great amount of bearing on why their use as a food product was delayed after their discovery and introduction to Europe. Climatic conditions in Spain, Italy and Portugal (where they were apparently used by more people earlier on) was more conducive to the maturation and harvest of fruiting bodies in an amount which would have made them agriculturally appealing.
 
 I would suggest without any evidence to prove it that the had nots may well have invented the poisonous theory to assuage their guilt over their inability to grow the fruit.
 
 Ras
 The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.- Solomon Ibn Gabirol</HTML>

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