why were tomatoes called love apples?

Answer 1

Because they were related botanically to the mandrake, or "love plant".

And a mandrake has all the powers over man that a witch would want. A mandrake was believed to be a potent aphrodisiac and lead a man like a dog creating subservience in him so therefor a tomato being kin to this plant was believed to entice man. A mandrake be a deadly nightshade.

Answer 2

Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family. Some nightshades are extremely poisonous. At one time people believed that tomatoes were poisonous too. They were grown as an ornamental plant.
People complaining of their love problems were advised ( jokingly, of course ) to eat a few tomatoes to put themselves out of their misery.

Answer 3

Before tomatoes were known as such they were known as "love apples" because people thought they were and aphrodisiac. Also, in Greek aros majik the seeds were the symbol of fertility. Men would throw them at women (way not cool!!) in the hope that the woman would lust after them.

Answer 4

A New World species, the first tomatoes grown in Europe were called "love apples" because they were related botanically to the mandrake, or "love plant," which was noted in the Bible for its reputed aphrodisiac qualities. In 1553, Swiss naturalist Konrad Gessner depicted the small-fruited "love apple" in a watercolor, and identified it in Latin as "poma amoris."

Pomme d'Amour (French for "love apple") is similar to these small-fruit tomatoes that were mostly grown for ornament; however, the mild, pinkish-red tomatoes are ideal for garden snacking, salads, and drying.

Answer 5

Why are you so lazy that you can't type in a search field in yahoo to look for "love apple tomato" and get the answer

Even though Valentine's Day has recently passed I still feel a slight twinge of love lingering in the crisp afternoon air. Love, which has been associated with so many things, has even deigned to lend its name to one of the most treasured gifts from the garden- the tomato. Did you know the tomato has been called every thing from the Moor's apple, to the wolf peach, to the Love Apple? This last steming from its botanical relation to the mandrake, or "love plant".(*1,2)
The tomato begins it's colorful and varied history upon the coastal highlands of western South America, where it was being enjoyed by the native peoples of South America for a long time. The Aztecs "mixed tomatos with chilies and ground squash seeds(*1) and were enjoying them when the Spanish conquistadors first came to the land. It was they that carried the seeds of this illustrious plant with them to the European continent. And there it was adopted by several cultures and peoples into their cooking. Though somewhere along the line, a misunderstanding arose when Renaissance botanists were working from botanical texts of the Greeks and Roman's. Here they were arranging everything into species and genus and placed it in the same group as Nightshade, widely known to be poisonous, hence the name of the wolf peach was attached to the humble tomato- though by no fault of its own.

Even so, people continued to cultivate and consume it in various forms all across Europe. We find it made it all the way to England by 1758 where reference to it can be found in the 1758 edition of Hannah Glasse's popular "The Art of Cookery".(*1) Here the American colonists took it with them to the new world bringing it and its prejudice with them to the new land. And early settlers were slow to take it up, but thanks in part ot such adventuresome growers as Thomas Jefferson and others, the tomato eventually founds its way to the heart of gardeners here as it had done previously in Europe and Central America.(*1)

And where did tomatoes go from there? To space and beyond. For in April, 1984 NASA sent tomato seeds up with one of its satelitte's to circle the earth for six years before being retrieved. These seeds were then sent to shool children around the country to test and see what, if any, the effects of space were on the seeds.(*1)

Yes, the tomato has really seen and done it all. Today it is so beloved that several dozens, if not hundreds, of tomato varieties can be found on the market in any one season. New varieties that are constantly being improved upon to enhance one feature or another of the tomato, as well as heirloom tomato seeds saved and kept true over several generations by family farmers and others dedicated to saving rare and historic varieties.
One of these varieties is the "Pomme d'Amour" variety, once grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, and still cultivated by the Monticello estate. You can purchase these seeds at Monticello - Plants and Seeds (http://store.yahoo.com/monticellostore/6... Or you can try one of the other historical and heirloom varieties such as "Yellow Pear" - available through Seeds of Change Cataloge (http://www.seedsofchange.com) or Trophy - available from the Seed Savers Exchange.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this history of the Love Apple, or Tomato. And I hope that you find the time to try one of the heirloom varieties mentioned above. I think that once you try them, like me you will be hooked, and will not be able to go back to anything else.

Bibliography:

1. www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/handbooks/tomatoes/1.html Cutler, Karan Davis, "From Wolf Peach to Outer Space - Tomato History and Lore", Brooklyn Botanical Garden website

2. store.yahoo.com/monticellostore/600067.html Monticello Store, description for "Pommed'Amour" variety of tomato.

Answer 6

love apple
n.
A tomato.

[Probably translation of French pomme d'amour (from the former belief in the tomato's aphrodisiacal powers) : pomme, apple + de, of + amour, love.]

Answer 7

They are refered to as the love apple because they are related to the deadly night shade and were considered poisonos for some time. Think sleeping beauty and you will have your answer. ;)

Answer 8

I suspect that its when you bite into them they are juicy and tender, and if you slice them vertically, the insides remind one of a females genitalia.....fertile with seeds, juicy....anyway, one never knows!

Answer 9

umm i never heard of that