People uses to think meat spontaneously turned into maggots if left out long enough. It wasnt until long after did somebody notice a fly landed on it.
Before that people used to think the hissing sound fire makes when you extinguish it with water was the fire spirit hissing and dying at the hands of the water spirit.
It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a member of the nightshade family, and a relative of belladonna.
This was exacerbated by the interaction of the tomato's acidic juice with pewter plates.
The leaves and fruit do contain tomatine, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains a much lower amount of tomatine than the immature fruit.
George Washington's cook tried to "poison" him by putting tomatoes in a dish he had prepared for him. The cook then committed suicide, believing that he had killed the general.
Was going to say the same thing. The acidity was just what they assumed was supporting evidence. They saw that tomatoes were clearly related to some very poisons plants and for a long time that was good enough for everyone to avoid eating them. I once found black nightshade growing on my property and the unripe fruit looked almost identical to green cherry tomatoes. The leaves were a different shape so I knew it was something else and I went and looked it up... but if someone had picked the fruit and mixed them with some green cherry tomatoes and put them in a salad, I would never be able to tell the difference. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/farm-ranch/resource-library/forages-id-database/images/forbs-images/black-nightshade/black_nightshade_fruit.jpg
[ + ] observation1
[ - ] observation1 2 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 03:02:32 ago (+2/-0)
Before that people used to think the hissing sound fire makes when you extinguish it with water was the fire spirit hissing and dying at the hands of the water spirit.
It was truly a mystical world.
[ + ] BulletStopper
[ - ] BulletStopper 3 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 06:27:16 ago (+3/-0)
They also believed for a time that grains of wheat left in a drawer would become mice.
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 2 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 15:18:42 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Trope
[ - ] Trope 2 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 20:13:48 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] BulletStopper
[ - ] BulletStopper 4 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 06:25:44 ago (+4/-0)
It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a member of the nightshade family, and a relative of belladonna.
This was exacerbated by the interaction of the tomato's acidic juice with pewter plates.
The leaves and fruit do contain tomatine, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains a much lower amount of tomatine than the immature fruit.
George Washington's cook tried to "poison" him by putting tomatoes in a dish he had prepared for him. The cook then committed suicide, believing that he had killed the general.
[ + ] Glowbright
[ - ] Glowbright 2 points 1.6 yearsSep 25, 2023 11:01:14 ago (+2/-0)
Was going to say the same thing. The acidity was just what they assumed was supporting evidence. They saw that tomatoes were clearly related to some very poisons plants and for a long time that was good enough for everyone to avoid eating them. I once found black nightshade growing on my property and the unripe fruit looked almost identical to green cherry tomatoes. The leaves were a different shape so I knew it was something else and I went and looked it up... but if someone had picked the fruit and mixed them with some green cherry tomatoes and put them in a salad, I would never be able to tell the difference. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/farm-ranch/resource-library/forages-id-database/images/forbs-images/black-nightshade/black_nightshade_fruit.jpg