Renaissance Tomatoes?

Matthiolus in his commentary on Discorides in 1544 is generally regarded at the first written record of the tomato in Western Europe specifically Italy, he describes it as green in colour until ripe in which it turns golden. He gives it the common name of "Pomi d'oro" with a Latin name of "Mala aurea" and classes them as a species of Mandrake. While his written description from the first edition may not be what we think of as a tomato the 1586 edition of his text, which contained a number of woodcuts makes it very clear that he is discussing tomatoes. The red version of the fruit seems to have been introduced before 1554 because an update to his work is mentions red tomatoes.

The 1554 Flemish edition of Dodonaeus's herbal calls them amorous apples, or golden apples, in Latin: Pomum Amoris, Poma Amoris, or Pomum aureum. The English term for tomatoes at the time was Apples of love.

In Italy there seems to be a long tradition of eating them fried in oil with salt and pepper, according to Petrus Andreas Matthiolus in 1544, and a number of sources that date from that time onwards give similar recipes for cooking and eating them.

In central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Belgium) Georg Oelinger writes about tomatoes in 1553 but there is an indication that they were grown for medicinal use only

In France they are mentioned in 1558 by Rembert Dodoens when it use was strictly grown as an ornamental plant or a curiosity, and was thought to cause vomiting and provoke loathing with an unpleasant taste and smell, and was dangerous to use, especially the leaves.

The first mention in England is from a 1570 translation of a the Italian text of Petrus Pena, which lists them as unhealthful but notes that the Italians eat them. John Gerarde's 1597 herbal lists them as being eaten in Spain by being boiled with pepper, salt, and oil; but Gerarde considered them to have little in the way of food value. He does note a second recipe as tomatoes, oil, vinegar and pepper mixed together for a sauce to their meat and used similarly to mustard.

The long and the short of the question about were tomatoes eaten prior to 1600 in Western Europe, is that yes if the feast is designed to mimic the Italian or Spanish cuisine of the late 1500's; or as medicine in central Europe, and not at all if you are English or French.

Direct Quotes and References

The Origin of the Cultivated Tomato

Author(s): J. A. Jenkins

Source: Economic Botany, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1948), pp. 379-392

Published by: Springer on behalf of New York Botanical Garden Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4251913

"Matthiolus, in the first edition of his commentary on Dioscorides (1544), describes both the eggplant and more briefly the tomato (p. 326) as species of the mandrake (Mandragora). The description of the tomato may be translated freely from the Italian as follows: " Another species [of Mandrake] has been brought to Italy in our time, flattened like the melerose [sort of apple] and segmented, green at first and when ripe of a golden color, which is eaten in the same manner [as the eggplant-fried in oil with salt and pepper, like mushrooms]". This description is considerably amplified in the Latin edition of 1554 which is usually cited as the first reference to the tomato."

References:

Matthiolus, Petrus Andreas [Mattioli, Pierandrea]. 1544. Di Pedacio Dioscoride Anazarbeo libri einque della historia, et materia medeicinale tradotti in lingua volgare Italiana, Venetia. 1554.

[Another Edition] Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacei Dioscoricis Anazarbei, de madica materia. . 1586.

[Another Edition] De plantis epitome utilissima, Petri Andreae Matthioli . . . (ed. Joachimus Camerarius).

The History of the Use of the Tomato: An Annotated Bibliography

Author(s): George Allen McCue

Source: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Nov., 1952), pp. 289-348

Published by: Missouri Botanical Garden Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2399094

Italy

1583 – Caesalpinus, Andrea. De Plantis libri XVI. Florentiae 1583.

p. 211. “Mala insana are rather round like apples; we know two different kinds; one of golden color like Malum Appium; whence some call it “golden apple;” the other type squatty and broad, like Malum roseum, marked by furrows, reddish in color like flame… [they are] two or three cubits long… [their] flowers are white. Both of them are foreignl they are cultivated in gardens to look at more than to use. Some, however, eat their fruit prepared in dishes, as Pyra insana, [the egg plant], but they have a certain musky odor, particularly the red ones. I think they are related to certain types of Solanum furiosum.” (Tr.)

About the preparation of Pyra insana, Caesalpinus says: “The fruits are eaten before ripe, thoroughly boiled or roasted in the manner of mushrooms. Its flavor imitates mushrooms, but not without strong condiments, such as pepper, in order to remove the wild flavor.” (Tr.)

England

1597 - Gerarde, John. The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. London, 1597

p. 275. "... In Spain and those hot regions, they used to eat the apples, prepared and boiled with pepper, salt and oil; but they yield very little nourishment to the body and the same naught and corrupt....

"....Likewise they do eat the apples with oil, vinegar and pepper mixed together for sauce to their meat, even as we in these cold countries do mustard."

This second paper is definitely worth looking at if you are looking for info on tomatoes - it's core is a listing of all Quotes and references (with dates) divided up by country - so not only can you look up the country and date - you can see what folks thought about it when.