[Sca-cooks] Fw: [Summits] Fw: Officially Period...the tomato

[wheezul at canby.com]

Actually the Mattioli 1611 edition is what started this all.  It says that
the Italians ate tomatoes cooked with oil, vinegar and pepper (and in the
1590 link below).  Further, it is unhealthy and not very nutritious.  The
key item for me though, is that he seems to say that these are common
plants in gardens.

Katherine

> I think the 1590 Kreuterbuch under discussion is a reprint of Doedens
> Kreuterbuch of 1578.  The phrasing is similar to that of John Gerard and
> we
> know he cribbed from an  english translation of Doedens.  Other than these
> references, I can't recall any definitive evidence of tomatoes being eaten
> in Europe until the 18th Century.  There is evidence to suggest that they
> were eaten (wonder what color the tomatoes were in Doedens and Gerard) but
> nothing on the order of what we have for squash, maize, and turkeys.  That
> in turn suggests that any tomato usage was limited.
>
> Tomatoes pop up in Mattioli's Herbal of 1544 and as I recall, he wasn't
> too
> sold on them.  Somebody with a little more time than I have might check
> out
> the 1611 edition and see what it says.  I'm off to a potluck pop meeting.
>
> Bear