In the 16th century, Spanish colonists ended the rule of the Aztecs in the American continent. Unfortunately, until they left, they were unable to find the treasure of Montezuma II. To this day, many explorers still set foot on the land of Mexico to pursue the legendary Aztec treasure, but they have never found anything. However, another treasure left by the Aztecs to the world has quietly flowed into thousands of households, and that is tomatoes.
In 500 BC, the Aztecs discovered a fruit in the jungles of South America and named it "chubby fruit" (tomatl) based on its image. Inherited by Spanish colonists, it became "tomate" in Spanish, and became the familiar word "tomato" in English. However, there is another expression for tomato in English. According to records, in the 16th century, a British Duke named Orodala was traveling in South America. When he saw tomatoes with red fruits and green leaves, he took them with him as if he had found a treasure. He returned to England and presented it to his lover Queen Elizabeth as a gift of love. From then on, the name "Love Apple" spread. Therefore, dear fairies, if your boyfriend gives you tomatoes to express his love, it doesn’t mean that he is doing it perfunctory, but it means that he regards you as a queen in his heart!
Today’s tomatoes are popular around the world and are the second most produced vegetable in the world. However, the path from a “grassroots” tomato to an “Internet celebrity” in the catering industry is not smooth. As a member of the Solanaceae family, tomatoes that are only toxic when immature are a real disgrace to Solanaceae poisoners. But in the eyes of European colonists at the time, tomatoes were no different from their poisonous cousins ??in the Solanaceae family, so although they brought tomatoes back to Europe, they only cultivated them as an ornamental plant. The cautious Germans even gave the tomato the name "wolf peach", indicating that this "scary" fruit can turn anyone who eats it into a werewolf. But poisoning has never been a concern for real foodies. Just like the first person to eat crab, there are also a group of people in Western countries who dare to be the first to eat tomatoes. In 1820, American Robert Johnson ate tomatoes in public in Salem, New Jersey. The scene of "eating America's first tomato" is still reenacted every year in the local area to commemorate him. As for the first person to eat tomatoes in Europe, the most widely circulated version is a French painter in the 18th century. He repeatedly made questions such as "Such a lovely fruit can't be poisonous?" "Even if it is poisonous, eating one bite will not After the ideological struggle, I boldly picked one and ate it. Not only did no accident happen, but I actually tasted good.
Merely being edible was not enough to make tomatoes the favorite of chefs. For a long time, chefs failed to find a suitable cooking method and relegated tomatoes to the sidelines. In 1836, the "Florida Agriculturalist" published an article by editor S. D. Wilcox. He made a pie with tomatoes without adding sugar or other seasonings, and after tasting it, he expressed his disgust. Even in China, which is good at cooking, tomatoes were not popular in the early years. Tomatoes were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty. However, until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, in literary works, describing a person as a tomato did not mean to praise her good-looking, but to praise her beauty. Said she "didn't like it but didn't like it"! Mr. Lao She once commented that tomatoes are "neither melons nor fruits nor vegetables" when eaten raw, but "a loose pile" when cooked. It seems that the characteristics of tomatoes stumped a large number of Chinese chefs during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
In Europe at the same time, only Italian chefs had been tirelessly studying tomato cooking methods and discovered the perfect combination of tomatoes and pasta. However, conservative Western Europeans were not able to accept this approach, so they In this way, tomatoes have become a delicacy unique to Italians. The real counterattack of tomatoes was during the American Revolutionary War. The army needed a large amount of canned food to ensure the food supply of soldiers. The high yield of tomatoes could ensure the supply, and its high acidity could extend the shelf life. This made Americans unable to refuse it. The charm of the country began to plant tomatoes on a large scale.
After the war, the still huge supply made Americans devote themselves to discovering tomato recipes. In the mid-to-late 19th century, the spring of tomatoes came. In 1876, Henry Hinds changed the recipe of ketchup, a traditional European sauce, and added Heinz tomato sauce has become the best-selling sauce in the world. In 1897, Joseph Campbell introduced condensed tomato soup, making his Campbell's Soup Company and its brand famous around the world. During the Republic of China, Chinese chefs finally combined tomatoes and eggs and gradually turned them into classic national dishes. Recipes such as tomato beef brisket and tomato sauce prawns were also gradually developed.
As the saying goes, "people are famous for their right and wrong." With the rapid popularity of tomatoes, there are more and more controversies surrounding tomatoes. In the past few years, there has been widespread debate on major social platforms as to whether tomato scrambled eggs are sweet or salty. In fact, as early as when tomato scrambled eggs first appeared, it had already fallen into the whirlpool of the differences in food culture between the north and the south. In the south, fried tomatoes pay attention to freshly cut tomatoes, while in the north, they are used to frying tomatoes until they are soft. Some literati and diners have been arguing about this issue. In addition to the North-South dispute over tomato scrambled eggs, internationally, people are also arguing about whether tomatoes are vegetables or fruits, and there is no consensus. From a cooking point of view, due to its low sugar content, tomatoes are not used for making desserts like other fruits, but are used like other vegetables as part of salads or main dishes; however, in the eyes of botanists, tomatoes are completely bottom fruit. For this reason, Encyclopedia Britannica labels tomatoes as "a fruit labeled as a vegetable in grocery stores."
For ordinary people, it does not matter if they cannot tell whether a tomato is a vegetable or a fruit. However, for businessmen, it may lead to tax evasion. In 1887, the U.S. Tariff Act imposed taxes on vegetables but not fruits, which resulted in the tomato's status becoming legally significant. After a long period of research and argumentation, the U.S. Supreme Court finally declared tomatoes a vegetable on May 10, 1893, based on their culinary uses. But this applied only to the interpretation of the 1883 tariff, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato in a botanical or other disciplinary sense.
Although we can eat a variety of tomato products today, unfortunately, the tomatoes we eat may not be as delicious as those eaten by the Aztecs. After all, for many years, in order to meet commercial needs, people have used hybridization technology to continuously select varieties that sell better and are easier to store and transport, resulting in the gradual loss of the sweet and sour taste of tomatoes. On the contrary, it is a distant relative of the tomato. The mini tomato, known as "cherry tomato" in supermarkets, is one of the original varieties of tomatoes and still retains a good taste. After all, you can’t have your cake and eat it too, so just be content with what you have!