Road Apples
Sept. 7, 2009

Tomatology

By Tim Sanders

You’d be amazed (or maybe you wouldn’t) at the number of people who’ve asked me why I never write about more practical things. Last week I received a letter from a gentleman named Ecil Ledbetter in Jackson, Mississippi, who requested that just once I write about a topic of real importance to the average Southerner. He suggested tomatoes.
So I thought I’d give tomatoes a try. As a topic, that is. For years the only thing I knew about horticulture was Dorothy Parker’s famous quote, “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.” Past that, I was lost. I never had what you’d call a green thumb. For a grade school class assignment I attempted to grow a bean in a cup full of dirt. I took my bean home and tended it, but eventually concluded that the teacher had given me a defective bean, because I followed her instructions and my bean never sprouted or flowered or did whatever it was supposed to do. I watered it and fertilized it, and even took it out regularly for fresh air, but all to no avail. That discouraged me, so I steered clear of gardening from that point.

But I’ve done some research on tomatoes, and while I may not be able to grow one, I have an excellent memory, and when it comes to tomato information, I am full of it. Here’s what you need to know about tomatoes.

FRUIT OR VEGETABLE? - Experts still debate whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. The tomato is the New Jersey state vegetable, and the Ohio state fruit. To cover both bases, the Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink tomato is both the Arkansas state fruit and state vegetable. And in New York, where in Broadway’s early days the air was filled with flying tomatoes, the tomato is the state bird.

THE NAME - The word “tomato” comes from the unpronounceable Aztec word “xitomatl”, which meant “plump bitter fruit with a navel.” Coincidentally, the same Aztec word has been used to describe film maker Michael Moore.

ORIGINS - The tomato family first established itself in the dense tomato forests of South America, and migrated north to Mexico, looking for work. The Aztecs traded tomatoes to early Spanish explorers for domestic cats, which were considered a delicacy. Either Columbus or Cortez, possibly both, took tomatoes back to Spain, where the King was expecting gold and precious jewels from the New World instead of items from the produce aisle. By the 1600s tomatoes were grown in Britain, but mainly for decorative purposes because they were considered a poisonous fruit. After several decades, a law was passed in Parliament which took them off the poisonous fruit list and instead classified them as poisonous vegetables. There was rejoicing throughout the British Isles.

WIDESPREAD ACCEPTANCE - By the mid-1700s, most of the civilized world had decided that tomatoes were no longer poisonous. The British took tomatoes to the Middle East, and to their North American colonies, where slaves were imported to work in the tomato groves from dawn ‘til dusk. By 1750 Thomas Jefferson had over 150 indentured servants working in the orchards on his famous Monticello tomato juice plantation. The tomatoes were plucked from low hanging tree branches by workers on primitive extension ladders.

JOHNNY TOMATOSEED - This legendary American frontiersman, clad in simple burlap breeches, piano wire galluses, and crockery, carried tomato seeds across the Ohio Valley in the early 1800s. In 1834 he was declared insane by the state of Illinois, and later that year was elected to Congress.

LATER DEVELOPMENTS - In 1837 tomato soup was first produced by a South Carolina entrepreneur named Campbell. Otis Campbell, I believe. Tomato paste was marketed in 1844, and mainly used to affix small children’s bibs to their shirts. Tomato consumption grew exponentially when “T” was added to the popular BL sandwich in 1852.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES - Most historians agree that, fried okra notwithstanding, the success of modern Southern cuisine began with the invention of the fried green tomato. After decades of experimentation with fried red tomatoes and fried yellow tomatoes, the fried green tomato was finally developed in 1859. There are those who will argue that the Union armies went to war with the Confederacy in order to acquire fried green tomato technology.

ONGOING TOMATO TECHNOLOGY - I looked this up, and there is actually a C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at California’s UC Davis, named for the late Dr. Charles M. Rick, who devoted most of his professional life to tomato genetics research. The good doctor was initially involved in the now famous jumping pinto bean project, and finally moved into genetic tomato research in hopes of developing a tomato with the ability to transport itself from the back porch to the table when ripe.

VARIETIES OF TOMATOES - There are almost 8,000 varieties of tomatoes. Many have colorful, descriptive names like Big Boy, Early Girl, Later ‘Mater, Nasty Sister, Fly Catcher, Sweet 100, Old 99, Yellow Pear, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Uncle Ned’s German Johnson, Jumbo Red, Boxcar Willie, Earl’s Conundrum, Gargantua, Medicine Ball, Lucky Cross, Double Cross, Purple Haze, Little Darlin’, Little Brother, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Procol Harem, Green Tambourine, McIntosh, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, and of course, Crab.

RANDOM TOMATO FACTS - Contrary to popular belief, former Vice President Dan Quayle did not spell the singular form of the word “tomato” with an “e.” He spelled it with an “r.” In the mid-1980s, an Oklahoma farmer grew a huge tomato which weighed either 7 pounds 12 ounces, or 712 pounds, I forget which. Most of the millions of tons of tomatoes harvested annually are produced in China, and shipped directly to the streets of Bunol, Spain. That’s where each August 50,000 or more Spaniards celebrate their beloved Tomatina Festival by throwing tomatoes at each other until they get tired and go home. When asked why they do this, the Spaniards always answer that it is because they cannot afford eggs.


If there is a positive response to this column, next week we may explore the art of pruning mushroom vines.