I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. The shape offers a clue, and perhaps being 'rosy'. Then the squidginess of them takes that away. But last year I bought some beef tomatoes from Lidls. They were firm and tasty , so out of curiosity I saved some seeds and this year grew two plants in my greenhouse. One plant produced beef tomatoes, but not a big crop. Most of those ended up frozen (chopped) for curries etc. The other plant produced one beef tomato with the rest of them being standard sized. I found them slow to ripen, and it was the end of the season before I got around to doing much with them. The grandchildren had the earlier ones. To me, they tasted better than any other that I have grown. They were firm, solid and meaty, and retained that for about six weeks before starting to soften. I can understand those being called love apples. The firmness wasn't quite up to that of an apple. The original tomato must have been F1, but I am saving some seeds and hoping that they will produce some again next year. I took a late cutting and wonder if I can save it through the winter. Strange how life gets more interesting as you get older.

On 18/11/2014 22:24, Bigal wrote:
I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. The shape
offers a clue, and perhaps being 'rosy'. Then the squidginess of them
takes that away. But last year I bought some beef tomatoes from Lidls.
They were firm and tasty , so out of curiosity I saved some seeds and
this year grew two plants in my greenhouse. One plant produced beef
tomatoes, but not a big crop. Most of those ended up frozen (chopped)
for curries etc. The other plant produced one beef tomato with the rest
of them being standard sized. I found them slow to ripen, and it was
the end of the season before I got around to doing much with them. The
grandchildren had the earlier ones. To me, they tasted better than any
other that I have grown. They were firm, solid and meaty, and retained
that for about six weeks before starting to soften. I can understand
those being called love apples. The firmness wasn't quite up to that
of an apple. The original tomato must have been F1, but I am saving
some seeds and hoping that they will produce some again next year. I
took a late cutting and wonder if I can save it through the winter.
Strange how life gets more interesting as you get older.





These little experiments are such good fun! Let us know what happens to
the tomato cutting.....

In article ,
Bigal wrote:

I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. ...

Advertising, mistranslation or both!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 23:24:52 +0100, Bigal
wrote:


I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. The shape
offers a clue, and perhaps being 'rosy'. Then the squidginess of them
takes that away. But last year I bought some beef tomatoes from Lidls.
They were firm and tasty , so out of curiosity I saved some seeds and
this year grew two plants in my greenhouse. One plant produced beef
tomatoes, but not a big crop. Most of those ended up frozen (chopped)
for curries etc. The other plant produced one beef tomato with the rest
of them being standard sized. I found them slow to ripen, and it was
the end of the season before I got around to doing much with them. The
grandchildren had the earlier ones. To me, they tasted better than any
other that I have grown. They were firm, solid and meaty, and retained
that for about six weeks before starting to soften. I can understand
those being called love apples. The firmness wasn't quite up to that
of an apple. The original tomato must have been F1, but I am saving
some seeds and hoping that they will produce some again next year. I
took a late cutting and wonder if I can save it through the winter.
Strange how life gets more interesting as you get older.

Good luck. You could be into something big in more ways than one!

On 19/11/2014 08:56, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Bigal wrote:

I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. ...

Advertising, mistranslation or both!

I find that people are still claiming that tomatoes are an aphrodisiac.
The name love apple might have something to do with that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Sorry Nick, I don't get your meaning. Advertising What? And what am I mistranslating? You have lost me.

In article ,
Bigal wrote:

'Nick Maclaren[_3_ Wrote:

I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. ...-

Advertising, mistranslation or both!

Sorry Nick, I don't get your meaning. Advertising What? And what
am I mistranslating? You have lost me.

Advertising tomatoes. Pomo d'oro and Pomme d'amour. And the latter
may itself have been a mistranslation.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 19/11/2014 08:56, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Bigal wrote:

I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. ...

Advertising, mistranslation or both!

Googling finds at claim that the Nahuatl tomatotl literally means "the
swelling fruit".



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:37:00 Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
Bigal wrote:

'Nick Maclaren[_3_ Wrote:

I have wondered why tomatoes used to be called love apples. ...-

Advertising, mistranslation or both!

Sorry Nick, I don't get your meaning. Advertising What? And what
am I mistranslating? You have lost me.

Advertising tomatoes. Pomo d'oro and Pomme d'amour. And the latter
may itself have been a mistranslation.

It would seem so as "pomo d'oro" means "golden apple". I would have
thought that "pomo del fuoco" would have been a more accurate
description, assuming the tomato is red! ;-)

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK