[Sca-cooks] Officially period... the tomato

[Louise Smithson]

Katherine wrote:

So Mattioli also mentions tomatoes boiled in oil, followed by instructions
to use sun softened tomatoes as medicines, which made me wonder when the
habit of drying tomatoes in the sun became common.  Could they have been
stored/preserved that way?  It seems to me that tomatoes did not travel
well, needed southern European climate to grow and if they were hard to
preserve then they would have been some sort of seasonal diet variation in
the locales that may have accepted them.  Where that may have been seems
to be the mystery, although that the first sauce recipe is "Spanish". 
Spanish and Italian are not my first choice of languages to study, but I
would think inventories and accounts might show something.  Are there any
extant feast/celebration accounts from the court in Naples?  Were tomatoes
dried in the new world?

Katherine

Actually the Mattioli mention (two lines) of tomatoes is buried in a two page 
description of egg plants. The specific text in Mattioli is: 

"Portansi ai tempi nostri d'un'altra spetie in Italia schiacciate come le mela 
rose e fatte a spicchi, di colore prima verde e come sono mature di color d'oro 
le quali pur si mangiano nel medesimo modo (delle melanzane)".
Translation: One can find in our time another species in Italy segmented like a 
rose hip and made in segments, first of color green and when it is mature of 
color gold the which one eats in the same way (as the eggplant)
And that is IT.

The description about boiling in oil comes from the Durante Herbario Nuovo 
"I pomi d'oro mangiansi nel medesmo modo che le melanzane con pepe, sale e olio, 
ma danno poco e cattivo nutrimento"
Translation: The tomato one eats in the same way as the eggplant with pepper, 
salt and oil, but it gives little and evil nutrition.

As far as references to sun dried tomatoes they are non existent, nor are 
references to using sun dried tomatoes.  In fact the first tomato recipe (also 
translated in the new world/old world article) is what we would recognize as 
salsa.  i.e. tomatoes, chillis, onions.  And turns up a century after our time 
period of interest and is ONLY one of two recipes in that book.  


Salsa di Pomadoro, alla Spagnuola (Latini, Lo scalco, vol 1, p 444)
Piglierai una mezza dozzena di Pomadoro, che sieno mature; le porrai sopra le 
brage, èbrustolare, e dopo che saranno abbruscate, gli leverai la scorza 
diligentemente, e le triterai minutamente con il Cotello, e v’aggiungerai 
cippola tritate minute, a discretione, peparolo pure tritato minuto, serpollo o 
piperna in poca quantità, e mescolando ogni cosa insieme, l’accommoderai con un 
pò di sale, oglio, & aceto, che sarà una salsa molto gustosa, per bollito, o per 
altro.

Tomato sauce, Spanish style
Take half a dozen tomatoes that are ripe, and put them to roast in the embers, 
and when they are scorched, remove the skin diligently, and mince them finely 
with a knife. Add onions, minced finely, to discretion; hot chili peppers, also 
minced finely; and thyme in a small amount. After mixing everything together, 
adjust it with a little salt, oil and vinegar. It is a very tasty sauce, both 
for boiled dishes or anything else.

Now compare this to the case for new world squash, recipes and  references 
galore in more than one book of our period.  Give also that  the book that gives 
two lines to the tomato gives detailed cultivation  instructions and pictures 
for maize, new world beans, new world squash  and chilli peppers.  But nothing 
equivalent for the tomato.   Much as  you might want to make it so, nothing in 
the literature, herbals or  recipe books supports widespread use, cultivation or 
eating of the  tomato until the 17th and 18th centuries at the earliest. Until 
canning  and dried pasta made pasta with tomato sauce a quick and easy dinner  
there really is little evidence for the dominance of the tomato in  Italian 
cuisine. And please don't come the "well the peasants may have  eaten it and not 
wrote anything down". Frankly the peasants were more  likely (and were) planting 
beans, and maize, millet etc. maximum  calories for minimal land.  


Helewyse