One tomato importer, John Nix, decided to challenge the law after reviewing the Tariff Act. His case was related to the fact that the tomato was a fruit and not a vegetable, therefore, it should not be subject to the Tariff Law. Nix’s objections brought the case to the Supreme Court in 1893. Although Nix had a strong case, the Supreme Court rejected the botanical facts and continued to refer to tomatoes as vegetables.

plant family

Tomatoes belong to the Lycopersicon genus, while potatoes belong to the Solanum genus; They both belong to the same “flowering plant family” Solanaceae. Similarities in leaves and flowers justify this taxonomic grouping.

United Kingdom – Tomato Introduction

When the tomato plant was first introduced to the UK, some areas were unwilling to consume the fruit because it was considered poisonous. Other plants that were poisonous and from the same family as the tomato, such as henbane, mandrake, and belladonna, were cause for concern.

The deadly nightshade (Atropus belladonna), in particular, most closely resembled the tomato plant and was used as a hallucinogenic drug as well as for cosmetic purposes in various parts of Europe. In Latin, the name “belladona”; literally means “beautiful woman”. Women in medieval courts applied a drop of belladonna extract to their eyes, dilating the pupils, a fashion statement at the time.

When belladonna was taken for its hallucinogenic properties, the user experienced images and a sensation of flight or weightlessness. German folklore suggests that it was also used in witchcraft to conjure up werewolves, a practice known as lycanthropy. The common name for tomatoes in Germany translates to “wolf peach,” which was just another reason for Europeans to avoid the plant.

North America – Tomato Introduction

Tomato plants were transported by settlers from Great Britain to North America. The plants were more appreciated to eliminate pustules (pimples, blisters, inflamed and pus-filled skin). Peanut butter inventor George Washington Carver strongly urged his poor neighbors in Alabama to consume tomatoes due to their unhealthy diet. However, he had little success in convincing them that the plants were edible.

The first attempts of the traders to sell tomatoes were not very successful. The fruit is said to have been brought to the liberal village of Salem, Mass. in 1802 by a painter who also found it difficult to persuade people to try the fruit. New Orleans cuisine was reported to have used tomatoes in 1812, however doubts about the fruit persisted in some areas.

Doubts about the plant’s edibility are believed to have been allayed when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced that he would consume a bushel of tomatoes outside the Boston courthouse at noon on September 26, 1820. Thousands of spectators turned out to see the man. commit suicide (at least they thought so) by consuming the poisonous fruit. Viewers are said to have been shocked when they realized that the Colonel would survive after consuming numerous tomatoes. This story is from an old farm journal and may not be very reliable, however it is quite entertaining.

Tomato popularity on the rise

Throughout the Western world, tomatoes began to gain popularity. In the 1820s, several cookbooks included recipes that called for or called for tomatoes. Tomatoes were being sold by the dozen at Boston’s Quincy Market in 1835. Thomas Bridgeman’s seed catalog listed 4 varieties of tomatoes: cherry, pear, large yellow, and large pumpkin.

Bruist, a seed dealer commented on the tomato in 1858: “In hindsight of the last eighteen years, there is no vegetable in the catalog which has obtained so much popularity in so short a period as is now considered. In 1828-29 , was almost detested; within ten years nearly every variety of pill and cure-all was tomato extract. Now it occupies as large an area of ​​land as cabbage, and is grown all over the country.” – http://www.heirloomseeds.com

That year, Bruits had eight cultivars in his catalog. A few years later, in 1863, a popular seed catalog listed 23 cultivars. One of the cultivars listed was Trophy, the first modern-looking, large, red, smooth-skinned variety that sold for $5.00 per packet of 20 seeds.

Large-scale breeding of desirable traits became common in the 1870s in both the US and the UK. In fact, by the 1880s several hundred cultivars had been named and it was clear that the tomato had grown in Western culture. According to a study done at Michigan Agricultural College in the late 1880s, 171 of the named cultivars represented only 61 truly unique varieties, many of which were only marginally different.

heirloom varieties

Although Central America is thought to be the center of domestication, throughout Europe and later in North America, further domestication occurred at a more intense level. Eastern Europe seemed to produce a large number of high-quality varieties. Tomatoes are self-pollinating plants that tend to become genetically homozygous after many generations. Tomatoes rarely interbreed and generally produce plants with similar characteristics to the parents.

Due to the natural breeding process of tomatoes, early cultivars did not change much and were kept in a family or community for a long time, hence the name heirlooms. There are cultivars dating back over a hundred years that are still being produced today. Most of the traditional varieties are different in color, size and shape. Some varieties are black, red with black shoulders, deep purple, rainbow, and green. In terms of size, some are cherry-sized to larger varieties weighing more than 2 pounds.

Relics – a story

Some traditional varieties also have interesting histories; At least I think so. Let’s talk about the story of an heirloom called the Mortgage Lifter. Radiator repair shop owner Charlie experienced tough times, as did much of the nation during the Great Depression. For financial reasons, most people abandoned their cars and Ol Charlie’s business was also hit hard. He decided to use his four largest fruit-producing tomato plants to repeatedly cross them with each other to create a plant that would produce two pounds of fruit.

Claiming his plants could feed a family of six, Charlie sold the crops for a dollar a plant. In four years, Charlie made enough money to pay off the $4,000 mortgage on his house, leading to the heirloom’s name “Mortgage Lifter.”

Relics – names and origins

In general, the names of traditional varieties are directly related to their history. For example, the Baptiste family in Remis, France, grew the First Pick variety. The history of Picardy also goes back to France (1890). Besser came from the Freiburg section of Germany, while Schellenburg’s favorite came from the Schellenburg family near Mannheim, Germany.

Elba was cultivated in 1889 near the Elbe River in Germany. Beginning in the 1870s, the Amish of Pennsylvania cultivated the Amish Paste variety. Brandywine was also grown by Amish farmers near Brandywine Creek in Chester County Pennsylvania in 1885. The hills of Virginia are believed to be the origin of the Hillbilly variety. Old Virginia was also grown in Virginia in the early 20th century. In 1953, the Campbell Soup Co. introduced the Ace variety, which is still popular for canning. On Edgar Allan Poe’s estate, a crop that grows there bears his mother’s maiden name, Hopkins.

Please note that these family stories may be true or false, in whole or in part, and may be inaccurate or exaggerated.