British Tomato Fortnight: John Ray's Apples of Love (aka Tomato)

In our previous post to mark British Tomato Fortnight, we mentioned that historically the tomato was viewed as poisonous. At Middleton Hall, this then invites the question of what did our famous resident botanist John Ray say about the tomato in the 17th century?

John Ray’s masterpiece, Historia Plantarum, contains multiple entries that would be considered as synonyms of the tomato today. One that is particularly interesting is in the appendix to Historia Plantarum volume 2, specifically a compendium of plants listed by the Spanish botanist Franciso Hernández from his visit to Mexico in the 1570s. It was actually Hernández who introduced the tomato to Spain as a result of that visit. From Spain, it was then introduced to Italy and then the rest of Europe.

Amongst the plants listed in the appendix is the tomatl, the Aztec name that eventually gave the tomato its English name. Ray noted that part of the description applied to the plant he knew by the name of “Apples of Love”, which name John Gerard also used. In his description of Apples of Love, Ray gave a number of synonyms including the Solanum pomiferum fructu rotundo strato molli of Caspar Bauhin, which Linnaeus subsequently recognised as a synonym for his taxonomical name for the tomato of Solanum lycopersicum.

Image of "Apples of Love" from John Gerard's The Herball.

Ray provided a full description of the plant in his entry for Apples of Love in volume 1 of Historia Plantarum. He also noted that, growing in their gardens, it germinated late, flowered at midsummer, completed its harvest by autumn and was immediately destroyed by the first frosts. He recorded that, medicinally, it had been reported that the juice was suitable for treating eye discharges that tended to cause glaucoma and, cooked in oil, they were an effective treatment for scabies.

Furthermore, he acknowledged that Italians enjoyed to eat Apples of Love prepared with pepper, salt, and oil, not unlike how they ate cucumbers. However, he knew of no reason why they did eat or cook them as, because of what he perceived as the foul air that exuded from the whole plant, they were not safe enough to be added to food. He added that the fruits were bountiful of a watery juice, which was not very pleasing when they tasted it. He also believed that the nourishment that the tomato provided to the body was either very small or lacking.

At this point it should be noted that the tomato of Ray’s time was not like the ones grown today. Accounts suggest that the early European tomatoes were exceedingly bitter. However, the tomatoes of warmer southern Europe appear to have quickly become sweeter, but it is suggested that the tomatoes grown in northern Europe remained very bitter until the 19th century. It was only at that time, which coincides with their increase in popularity and growing under glass, that the sweeter southern European varieties were introduced to England.

Further Reading: John Gerard. The Herball, 1636. pp. 345-346.

John Ray, Historia Plantarum, vol. 1, 1686. p.675.

John Ray, Historia Plantarum, vol. 2, 1688. p.1941.

Carl Linnaeus, Species Plantarum, vol. 1, 1753, p.185.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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