Blog

The story begins in 1519, when Hernán Cortés came ashore to the Costa Rican gardens of Montezuma and discovered what we now know as the tomato. He took the seeds back to Europe where they were ornamental curiosities, but not eaten. Throughout northern Europe, the tomato was considered to be poisonous. The wealthy dined on pewter; the acid in tomatoes reacted with the metal resulting in lead poisoning and death. Poor people ate from plates made of wood and were unaffected, so tomatoes became a poor man’s food. German folklore associates this nightshade plant with witches and werewolves, coining a name which literally translates to “Wolf Peach”.