TOMATO

With its significant burst of umami, tomato has been one of my long time favourites, yet confusing ingredients. To be botanically correct, it is a berry, therefore a fruit but it is used as a vegetable. Well, cucumber, green beans, eggplant, zucchini are in the same category but the tomato has a special history.

Native from south America and brought back by the Spanish in the 16th century, it remained an ornamental plant for over 100 years. The tomato was poisonous! At least it is what people thought, mainly due to the interaction of the acidic juice on the pewter plates in use back then. Imagine today Italian or Spanish cuisine without tomato!

Today we have over 10000 different type of tomatoes, all edible.

If you are ever in Būnol in Spain at the end of August, there is a festival called “la tomatina”. The idea is simple: through ripe tomatoes at each other. The city council even publish a short list of instruction like: “Do not throw anything but tomatoes”, “Squash tomatoes before throwing them to avoid hurting others or “Only throw tomatoes to a target you can see, to avoid hurting others”. So if this recipe failed, you still have an option.

~ E.S ~

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RECIPE

TOMATO AVOCADO

amela tomato, hass avocado, szechuan pepper

(SERVES – 2 PERSONS)