There is no fruit more beloved or popular than the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). It is a plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, and is native to Central and South America.

The tomato is presumed to have originally grown wild on the low hills of the Peruvian Andes. Apparently there is no history that the tomato was cultivated or even eaten in Peru before the Spanish arrived. Other researchers, however, have pointed out that this is not conclusive, as many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the very limited historical record. Much horticultural knowledge was lost after the arrival of Europeans, as the Roman Catholic Church had a policy of burning pre-Columbian information as pagan.

One species was transported to Mexico where it was grown and consumed by prehistoric humans. The exact date of domestication is not known. Evidence supports the theory that the first domesticated tomato was a little yellow fruit grown by the Aztecs of Central Mexico who called it xitomatl, meaning plump thing with a navel, and later called tomatl by other Mesoamerican peoples. Aztec writings mention tomatoes were prepared with peppers, corn and salt, likely to be the original salsa recipe.

Possibly, Spanish explorer Cortez may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City in 1521. Also Christopher Columbus, may have taken it to Europe, earlier in 1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal (a book containing the names and descriptions of plants) written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, golden apple.

Aztecs and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking; it was being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by 500 BC. It is thought that the Pueblo people believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated in Mesoamerica, and may be direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.