The Love Apple

We had a conversation about tomatoes with Heather and David at the Farmers Market last weekend – it was centered on the nick name “love apple” that tomatoes are sometimes called. With a bumper crop in the Alexandria container garden, exposure to all the varieties last month at the Mountain View market (photo below), a note about the tomato fest at the H-burg market (link: http://harrisonburgfarmersmarket.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/945/ ) – not to mention the standard and heirloom varieties you can find in the Luray market, as well as at Public House Produce – it’s a topic I thought I might look into further.


As far as I can tell from my online scan, the tomato was discovered in Europe, but made its way to South America, where it was cultivated by the Incas and Aztecs. It was rediscovered and brought back to Europe by Spanish explorers, notably Pizarro, Cortez, and Columbus, in the 15th and 16th Centuries. As it migrated across the continent, it picked up a variety of names in the different countries, and its reputation was as varied as the cultures discovering it.

For example, until the 1800’s, in England, apparently it was considered poisonous and was avoided – but the plant was cultivated in gardens anyway. Since the plant was reintroduced in Spain, in neighboring Italy it was nicknamed “apple of the Moors” – pomo dei Mori – which was subsequently altered in France to pomme d’amour.

Somehow, it gained a reputation as an aphrodisiac during all of this, which built on the French name (there is also a German variation of “apple of love” that refers to tomatoes).

Although it was his first encounter with the moniker, for his part, David wasn’t surprised by all of this. Since he eats tomatoes all the time, in fact, he said this helped explain some things for him. I couldn’t quite understand the point he was trying to make here – he may have been saying that he thought he was the aphrodisiac.