Gardening
Related: About this forumHey NRaleighLiberal & other tomato lovers did you know this?....
Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years
In the late 1700s, a large percentage of Europeans feared the tomato.
Around 1880, with the invention of the pizza in Naples, the tomato grew widespread in popularity in Europe. But theres a little more to the story behind the misunderstood fruits stint of unpopularity in England and America, as Andrew F. Smith details in his The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery. The tomato didnt get blamed just for what was really lead poisoning. Before the fruit made its way to the table in North America, it was classified as a deadly nightshade, a poisonous family of Solanaceae plants that contain toxins called tropane alkaloids.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2013/06/why-the-tomato-was-feared-in-europe-for-more-than-200-years/
Boy did those people miss out on a good thing!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(120,586 posts)The scientific name for the tomato plant is Solanum lycopersicum. They just don't happen to be poisonous like some of their cousins.
Potatoes and eggplants are also classified as Solanaceae.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,470 posts)of my upcoming book....you will have to wait until Dec 2014 to read it!
Working on the final appendices this afternoon....table of recommended varieties by color, and table of common tomato diseases - kept some of the busy work for last!
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)Hell, I might not make it that long!!!
But I look forward to it, in a year and a half....jeez. Can't wait.
mopinko
(71,713 posts)unless you want to do a tomato tasting in august. and book signing.
madokie
(51,076 posts)who convinced the people here that a tomato was good to eat.
I read it in one of my history books years ago.
If I remember correctly he was threatened with impeachment because of his eating tomatoes. He was considered unfit for office.
I'm off to bed or I'd see if I can find a reference to this.
I'm sure I still have the history book where I read this even though it might take a while to find it.