Plant Origins: Lycopersicon (Tomato)
Tomatoes belong to the genus Lycopersicon (Solanaceae
family). Evidence supports the theory the first domesticated tomato was a
little yellow fruit, ancestor of L. cerasiforme, grown by the Aztecs of
Central America who called it ‘xitomatl’ (pronounced zee-toe-má-tel),
meaning plump thing with a navel, and later called tomati by other
Central American tribes. Aztec writings mention tomatoes were prepared with
peppers and salt, likely to be the original salsa recipe. The tomato’s actual origin is thought to be Peru in South
America where it grew wild (like a weed) several thousands of years before
making its way north to Central America.
Presently, eight species still grow
wild in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Some believe Spanish explorer Cortez may
have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he
captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan in 1521, now Mexico City. Yet others
believe Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, discovered the tomato earlier in
1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in
an herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomi d’oro, golden apple. However, Mattioli’s
review was a bit of bad press for the tomato as he and other distinguished
authors continued to review the tomato as unhealthy or inedible because of its
link to other members of the Solanaceae, notably deadly nightshade (Atropus
belladonna) as it resembled the leaves of the tomato plant. Deadly
nightshade, a poisonous plant, was used as a hallucinogenic drug and a beauty aid
in parts of Europe. Its name “belladonna” (meaning beautiful woman) referred to ladies
in medieval courts who applied drops of nightshade extract to their eyes to
dilate the pupils, a look considered fashionable at the time. The
hallucinogenic nightshade induced visions and a feeling of flying, forever
associating it with witchcraft. Old German folklore reveals witches used
nightshade to conjure up werewolves.Interestingly, the German name for tomato
translates to wolf peach. And in the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus, noting German
legend, named the tomato Lycopersicon esculentum meaning edible wolf
peach.
Although the tomato circulated widely throughout Europe (as an
ornamental plant from the New World), suspicion continued and its use in European
cuisine evolved slowly over a period two hundred years. The yellow cerasiforme
(original stock) that crossed the Atlantic into Europe with Spanish explorers
continued to be hybridized into red and orange cultivars by 1623 and extensive
hybridization continued in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The first
cookbook to mention tomatoes was published in Naples Italy in 1692. By 1752
English cooks used tomatoes in the flavoring of soups, and in 1758 a tomato
recipe appeared in The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glass.
Still, the tomato
remained under suspicion when it returned to North America with colonists in the
mid 1700s. Thomas Jefferson served tomatoes and French fries at his table in
the 1780s. In 1820, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced that at noon on
September 26, he would eat a bushel of tomatoes in front of the Boston
courthouse. Spectators turned out to watch the poor man die, yet they were
shocked when he lived. By 1858 a seed merchant named Buist wrote this about the
tomato, “There is no vegetable on the catalog that has obtained such popularity
in so short a period.“ In 1863, 23 cultivars were listed in the catalog
– among
them an heirloom tomato named ‘Trophy,’ the first modern-looking, large red,
smooth-skinned variety. By 1880 nearly two hundred cultivars had been named,
although a study at Michigan Agricultural College in the late 1880s concluded of
171 cultivars only 61 were truly from different lines.
Names of heirloom
tomatoes have continued to reflect their own history: ‘Polish’ is said to have
been smuggled into the US on the back of a postage stamp in the late 1800s;
‘First Pick’ was grown by generations of the Baptiste family in Reims, France;
‘Besser’ came from Freiburg Germany; ‘Amish Paste’ has been cultivated in
Pennsylvania since 1870; ‘Jeff Davis’ a cultivar from Alabama honored the
Confederacy; and ‘Ace’ was introduced by the Campbell Soup Company in 1953, to
name only a few.
Nutrition and Medical News
Lycopene found in tomatoes is
being studied as a potent carotenoid (anti-oxidant) a molecule, which protects
against cancer-causing free radicals. Many studies confirm people who eat large
amounts of tomatoes experience a reduced risk of cancer. Tomato breeders at the
University of Florida are producing high lycopene cultivars found in L. pimpinellifolium (currant tomato) containing 40 times more lycopene than
domesticated tomatoes. Hybrids between the two are relatively simple to achieve
and will likely become a new tomato hybrid trait. Tomatoes rank 16th among all
fruits and vegetables as a source of vitamin A, 13th in vitamin C, with
significant amounts of lycopene, beta-carotene, magnesium, niacin, iron,
phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, folacin, sodium, and thiamine. A medium
tomato has 25 calories.
– Linda Durrant, Portage Co. MG
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