The origin of the word "tomato"

Homeland tomato consider the Galapagos Islands and a narrow strip of the Pacific coast of South America. Oddly enough, but the local Indians were completely indifferent to the taste of tomatoes. They did not even try to grow it, apparently believing that you should not flog a dead horse to collect small - the size of a cherry tree - the fruit of the wild tomato.

Cultivation of this plant began in Mexico, where he was given the same name familiar around the world - "tomatl." We first brought to Europe tomato fruits were small, yellow, shining in the sun, and so the Italians called them "POMI Doro" - "golden apples". Exotic overseas plant took pride of place in the garden, but upotreblint to eat its fruit hunters not found. Nearly two centuries they were considered inedible and even poisonous. This is evidenced by the Latin name of plants: the tomato belongs to the genus "likopersikon", which means "wolf peach." Who first ventured to taste its fruits, is not known, but in the late 18th century in the catalogs of the French company "Vilmorin" Tomato is already listed as a fruit plant.