Apparently, the tomato hails from down Mexico way and the Aztecs can take credit for developing it to the fruit we now know - they were discovered way back then making salsa with tomato in the mix! In the 1600's, the fruit attracted the marauding Spanish Conquistadors and they began shipping it back to Europe. Slow to take off and needing to overcome a suspicion for being toxic due tomatoes being a member of the deadly nightshade family (which includes, potatoes and eggplants too) and for being considered an evil luscious, red temptress encouraging 'girl power' (some thought maybe it was the actual 'apple' involved in the original sin!), the tomato did indeed capture the taste buds of the Europeans, particularly after a creative marketeer of the time touted them as an aphrodisiac, naming them 'poma amoris', but before long the French in turn named it 'pomme d'amour'...who could resist?!
Angelica O.F. pomme d'amours in the field
Some references site that the 'love apple' title and suspicions of toxicity stem from the tomato's relation to the mandrake or 'love plant', also a deadly nightshade family member.
Angelica O.F. heritage mix
Our Yellow Pear Toms.
Tomatoes are rich in the anti-oxidants, lycopene and vitamin C. They need to be cooked to maximise the lycopene availability when we eat them.
Our Grosse Lisse Toms.
Our Brandy Wine Yellow Toms. in the foreground & Romas behind.
Our Cherry Toms.
We'll soon be making sauces and bottling some of our summer sunshine to get us through the winter months!
Perhaps with some of our lush, robustly flavoured sweet basil...
...and of course including some of our private stash of our rich, piquant garlic...
Some Refs.: http://www.epicureantable.com/articles/atomatohis.htm , http://www.foodreference.com/html/artloveapples.html
& http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/org_vegetable_garden/106600#ixzz0kOisn84t
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