Tomato: the thorny path from a poisonous plant to the darling of millions

Yellow and red, orange and violet, large-fruited and cherry, sweet and sour - which only varieties of tomato were not bred. They make sauces, juices, jam, add to salads and main dishes, and, of course, not a single pizza is complete without tomatoes. Meanwhile, the Old World did not immediately fall in love with a native American, and for a long time tomatoes were grown exclusively as an ornamental plant, the fruits of which are dangerous to eat.

To begin with, let's figure out how to: tomatoes or tomatoes? In fact, both names are true and are synonymous. The fact is that the word "tomato" comes from the Aztec "tomato", which the Indians of America denoted wild forms of plants. And the word "tomato" is already an Italian term for "golden apple".

Natural and semi-cultural forms of tomatoes are still found on the American continent. The colonialists of America brought them to their distant ancestors in Europe in the 16th century. Interestingly, the Indians did not eat them, but only used as part of medicines. Therefore, Europeans believed that tomatoes are inedible and even more so - poisonous. They have long been grown as ornamental plants by collectors of overseas exotic.

But over time, the tomato has lost its status as a poisonous plant, the painstaking work of breeders to develop larger-fruited and precocious forms has begun. Oriental residents also liked tomatoes, and China is today the world leader in tomato production. Behind him with a wide margin are India, the USA and Turkey.

But the biggest fans of tomatoes are residents of southern European countries: Italians and Spaniards. The Mediterranean climate is ideal for growing sweet and tasty tomatoes. It is very warm, a lot of sunlight and almost year-round summer. What only dishes using tomatoes are not in these countries: from soups to sweet jams. By the way, according to the botanical description, the tomato fruit is a berry, which may be why it is the best suited for cooking sweet dishes. Interestingly, in Italy, the most popular way of harvesting tomatoes for future use is to dry the fruit, sliced, in the open air.