Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

▽ Water ♀ Feminine ♀ Venus

Folk Names

Apple of love, apple of paradise, golden apple, poison apple, wolf peach, toms, maters, tommy-toes

Energetics & Properties

Protection, prosperity, love, water magic

"I wanted to play mousetrap. You roll your dice, you move your mice, nobody gets hurt." - Bob the Tomato, The Toy that Saved Christmas

What Is It?

Tomatoes are berries from the tomato plant, which originated in South and Central America.

It may feel odd to think of tomatoes are fruits (technically so are avocados, bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, green beans, olives, and squashes). But it's even more uncanny that tomatoes are botanically berries. A berry is an indehiscent fruit (does not split apart when mature) coming from a single ovary and full, fleshy wall.

Tomatoes, along with potatoes and eggplants, are genera in the nightshade family. They can grow as ground vines, upright, or as bushes. The leaves and stems are hairy and inedible, containing a chemical compound called tomatine that can be poisonous in large amounts (refer to the cautions below). Before the tomato fruits grow, they begin as yellow flowers with five petals. Then the fruit forms with a watery interior and thin skin colored green, yellow, orange, or most commonly, bright red.

In the United States, tomatoes have legally been both fruits and vegetables for over 100 years: In the U.S. Supreme Court case Nix v. Hedden, the court ruled that a tomato is a vegetable (for the purposes of customs regulations). They recognized, however, that botanically, the tomato is "a fruit of the vine."

Why did this court case even happen? Imported vegetables were receiving a 10% tariff, but fruits weren't. The John Nix & Co. fruit commission sued Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, for charging the import tax on the commission's shipments of tomatoes. However, the court ruled in favor of Hedden, and ambiguous fruits and legumes often referenced as vegetables legally became vegetables for U.S. customs regulations.

Additionally, tomatoes are often stocked in vegetable sections of grocery stores, since they are cooked like vegetables: in sauces, salads, and savory main courses.

How it Tastes

A good tomato tastes sweet, tangy, and savory (or umami). If those flavors aren't balanced, a tomato may also taste tart, mild or intense, sugary or spicy, salty, or meaty.

Tomatoes pair well with herbs like basil and oregano, oysters, cheeses, and fruits like cucumber, apricot, peach, lychee, and strawberry.

In drinks, it pairs well with orange liqueurs, gin, vodka, golden yellow and dark beers, and green tea.

Medicinal Benefits

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Tomatoes got the folk name "love apples" because they are also a mild aphrodisiac. The cause is lycopene: a carotene that can increase blood flow, as well as help reduce risks of heart disease and cancer.

*All medicinal benefits are for historical education purposes and entertainment. This website should not replace the advice of a doctor or other health professional. Please be responsible and consult a specialist before using a plant for healing purposes.*

Facts & Fables

Tomatoes haven't just been misunderstood in the argument fruit vs vegetable: Europeans called tomatoes "poison apples" because wealthy aristocrats would get sick and die after eating them. But tomatoes weren't the culprit: The lead plates they dined with would leach into the highly acidic tomatoes.

Some bright red fruits like holly are poisonous, so people were wary of the color and the odd odor. Carl Linnaeus named and gave a Greek classification to the tomato: "Wolf peach of the nightshade family." Needless to say, it wasn't a very appetizing or comforting name.

The name we use today originated from the Mexican Nahuatl word 'tomatl', meaning 'swelling fruit' or 'fat water.' Aztecs had been eating tomatoes since 700 AD. They cultivated tomatoes to grow larger and sweeter and named this variety xitomatl, meaning 'fat water with navel.' Tomato seeds didn't travel to Europe until the 1500s. Once in Spain, the name changed to 'tomate'.

American and British English use the phrase "Tomato (təˈmeɪtoʊ), tomato (təˈmɑːtoʊ)". Comparing the two pronunciations became popular from Ira and George Gershwin's song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Today, the phrase is used to compare two similar things and imply that the differences don't matter.

In magic, tomatoes works as a substitute for spells that use apples. Even though the two are different fruits and flavors, the folk names and similar appearances make them interchangeable. Even their elemental, planetary, and gender associations are the same.

Placing a tomato on your mantel is said to bring prosperity and placing it in an entrance like a window or door repels evil. Eat tomatoes to encourage love, since they are mild aphrodisiacs (see the medicinal benefits above).

⚠ Cautions ⚠

Avoid consuming the stems, leaves, or unripe fruit of a tomato plant. These parts contain a glycoalkaloid called tomatine which, in large quantities, can be toxic. The ripe tomato fruit contains much less tomatine.

In laboratory animals, symptoms of acute tomatine poisoning have included abdominal pain, confusion, diarrhea, depression, drowsiness, vomiting, and weakness. In humans, a moderate amount of consumption can occur without these effects. For example, humans eat fried green tomatoes and cherry tomatoes (high in tomatine) without showing these symptoms. Still, please be cautious and aware of your daily intake.

Cocktails

• Bloody Mary

• Virgin Mary

• Michelada

• Sangrita

• Prairie Oyster No. 1

• Red Devil

• Bloody Bull

• Bloody London

• Bloody Burns

• Cubanita