September 2, 2024 • 5 mins
From sandwiches to salads to sauces, tomatoes are a routine part of most diets. But did you know in the 170s, the tomato was thought to be poisonous? And that it took a brave, public act to change the fruit's destiny?
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There is new TRUTH BE TOLD content three times each week: tune into the MINUTEMAN REPORT, hosted by Robert Hensley, live on Mondays at 3P PT/6P ET, check out TRUTH BE TOLD TRANSFORMATION hosted by Bonnie Burkert, live on Wednesdays at 3P PT/6P ET, and join Tony Sweet with the original TRUTH BE TOLD on Fridays Live at 3P PT/6P ET! Learn more about TRUTH BE TOLD online at www.truthbetoldparanormal.com Be sure click on our SHOP page to get official TRUTH BE TOLD merchandise! Follow Tony on TikTok @theparanormalclub www.clubparanormal.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-be-told-paranormal--3589860/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From a non disclosed location somewhere in North America. This
is your weekly Truth be Told min and man report.
Hey everybody, it's Robert Hensley, your Truth be Told min
a man. And it has been a while. I'm so
sorry that I've been absent, but I have been traversing
this great country of ours looking for some unique stories
and also just experiencing this summer heat wave. And along
(00:31):
the way, I got to wondering about, as you do,
how some of our foods became foods, Like who saw
like who ate corn first? Who grabbed that green leafy
thing with the brown hair on top and decided to
peel it and open it and eat the kernels inside?
(00:53):
Who decided that? And among these other questions, I came
across a very interesting article all about tomatoes. Did you
know that the tomato for years were only grown in
the southern regions of the Americas and used this food
(01:15):
because in Europe people died from eating tomatoes in the
seventeen and eighteen hundreds because they because their dishes what
they were eating off of was pewter, which is lead based,
and so the acidic juice from a tomato actually can
(01:38):
melt or dissolve the lead in the plates and caused
mass lead poisonings. Right, So people from very wealthy families
were dying from eating tomato based dishes. So Europeans started
calling the tomato the poison apple. Right, So, tomatoes were
(02:01):
mostly used if they were grown or picked at all,
were used only as decoration some alchemists and you know,
quote unquote whitches, we're using tomatoes in love potions, but
only in the Americas where people eating the fruit of
the tomato plant. Now, tomatoes are classified as night shades,
(02:25):
which is a family of plants that do contain toxins
that can be poisonous. In fact, tomatoes contain what is
called tropain alkaloids. Right, There's a one of those alkaloids
is called tomatine, which in large quantities can be fatal.
(02:46):
But ripe tomatoes actually contain much less of the tomatine
than unripe fruit. Now. Uh, there was a guy, Robert
Gibbon Johnson, who wanted to prove that tomatoes were safe
to eat. So in eighteen twenty he ate a tomato
(03:07):
in front of an audience in Salem, New Jersey. And
the point of this was that he wanted to prove
that tomatoes were safe to eat, all right, Now, the
audience expected him to phone with the mouth twitch and
basically die on the spot, and instead he survived. And
(03:31):
today tomatoes are you know, used in everything from soups, salads,
side dishes, garnishes, you know, and lord knows, if you
love Italian food, you're eating a lot of tomato sauce.
But yeah, so who knew that the tomato had such
(03:53):
a poisonous history. Now. The thing is is that if
you are into growing organic, if you're into eating kind
of a macro diet, some and there's a lot of
controversy about this online, but some people claim that you
(04:15):
can eat tomato leaves or leaves from the tomato plant.
Other people say that the leaves are absolutely poisonous and
you should not ingest them, and there are websites that
say both. So it's it's really best judgment if you
decide to put tomato leaves in a salad or use
(04:36):
those as a garnish on a plate. But yeah, so
the poison apple the tomato. That's that was what came
to mind as I was visiting some local farmers' markets
here on the East Coast, So there you have it. Folks.
If you know of any other stories of how fruits
(04:59):
or vegetables came to me, or the history of other food,
please share that with me. You can reach out to
me at Report Minuteman at gmail dot com. I'd love
to hear what you got and if you have any
other story ideas, questions, comments, concerns, email me. I'm always
being to hear from you. But remember there are three
opportunities each week for new content from Truth be Told
(05:24):
on a club Paranormal on YouTube that is The Minuteman
Report every Monday at three pm Pacific six eastern. Wednesdays
you have Truth be Told, Transformation with Bonnie Burkhart same
time three pm Pacific six eastern, and of course Tony's
Week with your original Truth be Told every Friday afternoon
at You Guessed at three pm Pacific six eastern until
(05:45):
next time. Everyone stay three
From a non disclosed location somewhere in North America. This
is your weekly Truth be Told min and man report.
Hey everybody, it's Robert Hensley, your Truth be Told min
a man. And it has been a while. I'm so
sorry that I've been absent, but I have been traversing
this great country of ours looking for some unique stories
and also just experiencing this summer heat wave. And along
(00:31):
the way, I got to wondering about, as you do,
how some of our foods became foods, Like who saw
like who ate corn first? Who grabbed that green leafy
thing with the brown hair on top and decided to
peel it and open it and eat the kernels inside?
(00:53):
Who decided that? And among these other questions, I came
across a very interesting article all about tomatoes. Did you
know that the tomato for years were only grown in
the southern regions of the Americas and used this food
(01:15):
because in Europe people died from eating tomatoes in the
seventeen and eighteen hundreds because they because their dishes what
they were eating off of was pewter, which is lead based,
and so the acidic juice from a tomato actually can
(01:38):
melt or dissolve the lead in the plates and caused
mass lead poisonings. Right, So people from very wealthy families
were dying from eating tomato based dishes. So Europeans started
calling the tomato the poison apple. Right, So, tomatoes were
(02:01):
mostly used if they were grown or picked at all,
were used only as decoration some alchemists and you know,
quote unquote whitches, we're using tomatoes in love potions, but
only in the Americas where people eating the fruit of
the tomato plant. Now, tomatoes are classified as night shades,
(02:25):
which is a family of plants that do contain toxins
that can be poisonous. In fact, tomatoes contain what is
called tropain alkaloids. Right, There's a one of those alkaloids
is called tomatine, which in large quantities can be fatal.
(02:46):
But ripe tomatoes actually contain much less of the tomatine
than unripe fruit. Now. Uh, there was a guy, Robert
Gibbon Johnson, who wanted to prove that tomatoes were safe
to eat. So in eighteen twenty he ate a tomato
(03:07):
in front of an audience in Salem, New Jersey. And
the point of this was that he wanted to prove
that tomatoes were safe to eat, all right, Now, the
audience expected him to phone with the mouth twitch and
basically die on the spot, and instead he survived. And
(03:31):
today tomatoes are you know, used in everything from soups, salads,
side dishes, garnishes, you know, and lord knows, if you
love Italian food, you're eating a lot of tomato sauce.
But yeah, so who knew that the tomato had such
(03:53):
a poisonous history. Now. The thing is is that if
you are into growing organic, if you're into eating kind
of a macro diet, some and there's a lot of
controversy about this online, but some people claim that you
(04:15):
can eat tomato leaves or leaves from the tomato plant.
Other people say that the leaves are absolutely poisonous and
you should not ingest them, and there are websites that
say both. So it's it's really best judgment if you
decide to put tomato leaves in a salad or use
(04:36):
those as a garnish on a plate. But yeah, so
the poison apple the tomato. That's that was what came
to mind as I was visiting some local farmers' markets
here on the East Coast, So there you have it. Folks.
If you know of any other stories of how fruits
(04:59):
or vegetables came to me, or the history of other food,
please share that with me. You can reach out to
me at Report Minuteman at gmail dot com. I'd love
to hear what you got and if you have any
other story ideas, questions, comments, concerns, email me. I'm always
being to hear from you. But remember there are three
opportunities each week for new content from Truth be Told
(05:24):
on a club Paranormal on YouTube that is The Minuteman
Report every Monday at three pm Pacific six eastern. Wednesdays
you have Truth be Told, Transformation with Bonnie Burkhart same
time three pm Pacific six eastern, and of course Tony's
Week with your original Truth be Told every Friday afternoon
at You Guessed at three pm Pacific six eastern until
(05:45):
next time. Everyone stay three
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