Among the various food flavors, "tomato flavor" is definitely a very recognizable category. Tomatoes are both vegetables and fruits, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes are also a national home cooking dish in Chinese. But this delicacy, which we are very familiar with, was considered poisonous in the past, and it took a long time to be able to reach the table.
01 From the Andes to European plantations
Native to the Andes in South America, tomatoes began as peas in shape similar to grapes. Although their red flesh is so attractive that it is considered highly poisonous, the local natives only treat it as food for wild animals, and have given tomatoes a beautiful and dangerous name: "wolf peach". Later, it was found that it was actually because tomato leaves contained toxins and were mistakenly eaten by people at that time that led to poisoning.
In 500 BC, wild tomatoes were brought to Mexico for cultivation, and plantations in central Mexico became their new home, and after domestication by the Mexican Aztecs, tomatoes were used for cooking. In the city of Tenochtitlán, the market is full of large tomatoes, small tomatoes, snake-shaped tomatoes, heart-shaped tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, not only red, but also yellow. In addition to fresh tomatoes, we also sell a variety of snacks and sauces processed from tomatoes. The later English name "tomato" for tomatoes came from the Mexican language.
In 1492, Columbus discovered the New World, opening the door for Europeans to colonize America. At the same time, an important event known as the "Columbus Exchange" was staged, and many American specialties were discovered, including tomatoes.
In the 16th century, Spanish and Portuguese traders brought tomatoes back to Europe and sold them as high-end ornamental plants. After receiving the tomato, the British Duke of Dalari offered this gorgeous fruit to Queen Elizabeth as a gift of love. Tomatoes are so popular for their appearance, Europeans have given them a nice name called "Apple of Love".
The nobles heard that this exotic plant was also eaten by Native Americans, and they wanted to try it, but unfortunately their plates were made of tin, which reacted chemically with the acids in tomatoes, causing lead poisoning and even killing people.
A poisoning incident caused panic among the people. "Poisonous and inedible", became the stereotype of tomatoes in Europe. Some botanists have written about the poison of tomatoes in their monographs, and the church even sees them as the embodiment of demons. The poor tomato could only remain in the garden for the princes and nobles to see. Even if they were later on the table, they were only placed in the corner as an ornament.
02 Warriors who eat tomatoes
By 1544, the tomato was introduced to Italy by the Italian herbalist Mattioli. Mathioli mistakes tomatoes for mandrakes, an aphrodisiac hallucinogen of the time, and curiosity prompts Mathioli to decide to cook tomatoes. He follows the usual way of making eggplants, smearing tomatoes with salt and pepper, and putting them in a pan to fry. Although the taste is not delicious, Mattioli proved that tomatoes are edible.
In 1575, a European priest also wrote a book proving that tomatoes were edible, describing how the Mexican Aztecs processed tomatoes, saying that they would juice tomatoes, then mix them with peppers and pumpkins to make a seasoning. Unfortunately, as soon as the pastor's book came out, it was listed as a banned book.
At the end of the 16th century, when the tomato entered England, an English quack doctor wrote an article analyzing tomatoes, not only copying the work of other researchers, but also judging without scientific basis that tomatoes are only suitable for consumption in southern regions such as Spain and Italy, because these places are warmer. And in the cold north, tomatoes cannot be cooked, only medicinal.
It was not until 1768 that the Scottish botanist Miller classified tomatoes as a genus of tomatoes, and in 1797, the Encyclopedia Britannica listed tomatoes as a vegetable for daily consumption. The tomato was finally freed from the charge of "poisonous fruit" and its edibility was recognized. Gradually, people began to cultivate edible tomatoes.
In the Italian kitchen, tomatoes have become an indispensable member of the cuisine, whether it is a daily staple or a new dish, you can always see the wonderful combination of tomato and meat sauce. And the British have obviously not completely eliminated the "poisonous fruit panic", and they always spend a long time cooking tomatoes in order to kill the "possible toxins" inside.
So, on the other side of the ocean, in the United States, who is the first hero to eat tomatoes? There is a version of the story that in 1820, the American Robert brought tomato seeds back to his hometown of Salen, New Jersey, planted them in his own field, and when the tomatoes were ripe, they could not sell a single one because everyone was afraid of poison.
Robert announced in public that he would test the poison and eat tomatoes in front of the eyes of the whole town. The news spread quickly, and the people who came to see the excitement gathered more and more, and Robert ate a dozen tomatoes in a row. After eating, the onlookers waited to see him poisoned and collapsed, who knew that Robert was safe and sound. Since then, stunned people have accepted the fact that tomatoes are not toxic.
With the improvement of tomato breeding, by the middle of the 19th century, tomatoes entered the market. In the 80s of the 19th century, the new varieties bred by American botanist Livingston were very successful, and tomatoes officially entered the industrial era. In 1897, Joseph Campbell introduced concentrated tomato soup, the invention of this canned tomato, which greatly extended the shelf life of food and enabled tomatoes to enter more consumer homes.
03 Tomatoes come to China
Tomatoes came to China, and it is recorded during the Ming Dynasty. In the first year of the Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty (1621), Wang Xiangjin compiled the "Qunfang Spectrum": "A June persimmon, herbaceous, from Xifan, hence the name. This "tomato" refers to tomatoes, which were brought along with sunflowers by Western missionaries. It is worth mentioning that the first province to record "tomato persimmon" in local chronicles was Shanxi.
After entering China, tomatoes were first planted as ornamental plants in gardens. It was not until the second year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1737) that the "Taiwan Fuzhi" mentioned that tomatoes have a delicate taste and can also be boiled with sugar to drink tea, and the edible value of tomatoes was affirmed.
During the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty, an agricultural experimental field was established in the capital, and a description of the introduction of tomatoes from Russia can be found in a compromise in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908). It is called "tomato" because it comes from the West and resembles an eggplant.
As for the title "tomato", it appeared in the second year of Xuantong (1910), and it was composed of three elements: "Western" in the West, "red" in red color, and "persimmon" in the shape of persimmons.
In 1910, Heilongjiang's "Hulan Fuzhi" called tomatoes "tomatoes", saying that it had a slightly sweet taste. In 1935, the Guangdong Tongzhi Manuscript recorded that tomatoes had been widely cultivated, and in addition to being eaten raw, they could also be cooked with meat. In 1937, Yunnan's "Shiping County Record" said that the locals who had always been prejudiced against tomatoes and thought them were poisonous had in recent years regarded tomatoes as an excellent delicacy. And in 1938, Guizhou's "Majiang County Record" introduced the method of preserving tomatoes: add tomatoes to salt, garlic, chili peppers, rice wine, and marinate them in a jar.
During the Republican period, in major restaurants and restaurants, tomatoes were expensive, and eating tomatoes seemed to become a kind of show-off behavior of rich people. Seeing this phenomenon, Lao She was extremely dissatisfied, and wrote an article "Tomatoes" published in the newspaper, fiercely attacking Chinese's admiration, and then he was still unfulfilled and wrote another article "Talking about Tomatoes Again".
04 From fish sauce to ketchup
The "everything can be dipped in" ketchup, which actually has Chinese roots, can be traced back to a dietary habit in the coastal region of southern Fujian, where the primitive peoples would marinate seafood for long-term preservation to add special flavor and texture. Among them, fish, shrimp, shellfish and various spices were fermented to make sauces, which were popular for seasoning, and later derived a series of fish sauce and shrimp paste varieties.
These seafood products are called "ketchup" in Hokkien, where "ket" means pickled fish and "chup" is the sound of sauce. And "ketchup" is the English name of the later ketchup.
During the Song Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road developed rapidly, and Quanzhou in Fujian became one of the largest ports for trade between East and West. Fujian immigrants came to Southeast Asia with seafood fermentation technology, opened sauce factories in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and the fish sauce produced was bought back by British sailors, adding a lot of flavor to their diet.
The price of fish sauce in China is very low, and the merchants keenly saw the business opportunity and started a business of reselling fish sauce. In the busy trade exchanges, fish sauce gradually became an important commodity, earning good profits for British merchants. Expensive fish sauce came to the British table, and dishes dominated by fish sauce became popular in aristocratic circles.
The British tried to crack the recipe for fish sauce, but failed, and they had to find a different way, mixing anchovies, oysters, mushrooms, walnuts, and boiling them with salt, green onions, ginger, garlic, beer and spices to make the British version of fish sauce. Some extremely creative chefs even add fruits such as peaches, strawberries, grapes, lemons, etc.
In the 90s of the 17th century, the term "ketchup" was added to the English language. In the minds of British diners, the most popular are mushroom sauce and walnut sauce, but the tomato is missing from the entire sauce army.
It wasn't until the 19th century, when ketchup was made to the United States, that Americans preferred thick, sweet textures, and manufacturers waited for opportunities to improve the sauce. In 1812, Philadelphia scientist James Meese published a ketchup recipe containing tomatoes, spices and brandy, and ketchup was born.
After the ketchup was brought to market, it immediately captured the stomachs of the American people. Consumers also found that the concentration of tomatoes had a great impact on the taste, and it seemed that other ingredients except tomatoes were all added to the picture. Gradually, the proportion of tomatoes in the sauce became higher and higher, and by the mid-to-late 19th century, the main ingredient of tomato sauce was only tomato.
Almost every American family puts a bottle of ketchup on the table, and the New York Tribune describes this delicacy as "American national condiment."
Of course, one of the drawbacks of fresh ketchup is also obvious, that is, the shelf life is not long, and manufacturers can only add a lot of preservatives to it. At this time, a man named Henry Heinz said that only preservative-free ketchup would win the market.
By around 1910, after a series of experiments, Heinz found that sauces made from a whole tomato had a longer shelf life than the pulp of a whole tomato. They also increased the sugar and vinegar content so that the pickled tomatoes could be stored longer. Heinz's production method has formed the most popular sweet and sour recipe for tomato paste.
05 Tomato's second home
Among the various tomato dishes, tomato scrambled eggs can be described as a divine dish, which fully reflects the wisdom of Chinese to improve Western cuisine.
After tomatoes were promoted from big cities in China to second- and third-tier cities, people began to think about how to make it not only stay in Western recipes, but better integrate into Chinese cuisine. After a bold exploration by foodies and drawing inspiration from traditional cuisine, the dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes was born.
There is no historical information about when and when the tomato scrambled egg was invented, but in 1935, a paper entitled "The nutritional value of tomato and its main processing and cooking methods" was published in the monthly journal "Horticulture". The author, agronomist Xing Xiyong, said in the article that tomatoes are peeled and sliced and eggs are seared in oil. Aren't these descriptions exactly how tomato scrambled eggs are made? So at least in 1935, scrambled eggs with tomatoes were already a ripe dish.
After eating the delicacy, Wang Zengqi also wrote an article "Scrambled Eggs", saying that tomato scrambled eggs, to fry tomatoes until they are broken, still not weak, eggs into large pieces, tomatoes and eggs are still distinct in color. He also complained that when tomato scrambled eggs were popular from the south to the north, the cooks in the north cooked the dish, and the craftsmanship was not perfect, and the stir-fry was "a mess".
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes really became popular as a home-cooked dish, after the 50s of the 20th century, when China introduced pesticide and fertilizer technology from the West and greenhouses were developed. Tomato has high yield, strong adaptability to the environment, and a wide range of cultivation, becoming the main vegetable planting variety. Later, a national standard was also issued, establishing "tomato" as the official name.
Today, China's tomato production ranks one of the world's, and it has become the "second home" of tomatoes. In some poor areas, tomato cultivation has been regarded as the main industry to get rid of poverty and become rich. Whether it is tomato sauce derived from fish sauce or scrambled eggs with tomatoes that have become a national home cooking, they all reflect the wonderful fate of tomatoes and China. The legendary story of this little fruit will continue to be staged on the land of China.
References: "Tomato", "Introduction and Promotion of Tomato in China and Its Motivation Analysis", "Food Linguistics"
Author: Our guest author Shinomi