Long before it was considered here as fit to eat, it was grown only as an ornamental garden plant, sometimes called "love apple." The mistaken idea that tomatoes were poisonous probably arose because the plant belongs to the Nightshade family, of which some species are truly poisonous.
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Jun 18, 2013 · Before the fruit made its way to the table in North America, it was classified as a deadly nightshade, a poisonous family of Solanaceae plants ...
The Right Chemistry: Tomatoes were once considered deadly
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Dec 23, 2023 · Called the "poison apple" in the 19th century, its toxicity was later debunked and is now known to have numerous health benefits.
May 8, 2023 · Thus, tomatoes are poisonous. It's a logical thought process, if not actually correct.
Dec 28, 2022 · A member of the deadly nightshade family, tomatoes were erroneously thought to be poisonous (although the leaves are poisonous) by Europeans ...
Feb 2, 2023 · Are tomatoes poisonous? No, but for a sizable chunk of history, people thought they were. The reason tomatoes received their sullied reputation ...
Dec 15, 2021 · Tomatoes were apparently feared in the USA for many years because of a rumor spread early on that they contained tomatine.
Feb 22, 2019 · No because they didn't know tomatoes. When tomatoes arrived from the new world, the Spanish, not the Italians, were the first to eat them.
Feb 2, 2022 · That's because, according to Smithsonian, tomatoes belong to the nightshade family of plants, some of which are deadly — and Europeans weren't ...
May 7, 2021 · This led people unfamiliar with the Tomato to incorrectly think the fruit (technically a berry) of it was also poisonous.