Where did tomato plants come from?
The tomato is a very old fruit. It was used in South America almost 2 000 years before the arrival of Columbus. At that time it was a small plant with a more sour fruit. European explorers came across tomatoes for the first time in Mexico. Tomatoes were a basic part of the Aztec farmers’ diet. The Europeans took the “tomali” seeds home with them but for many years people did not eat tomatoes because they thought they were poisonous. Years later chefs in France and Italy used tomatoes in their recipes. In North America, tomatoes have been grown for at least 200 years.
