Tomatoes

[Dr. Shane]

Well, do you eat enough of them? Cooked or raw?

[cricket]

How much is enough? Are you speaking transgenic tomatoes or organically grown, non-trangenic?

[Amelia]

I had some grape tomatos for dinner tonight. But they are not often on my shoping list unless there is a super good sale.

[aldona]

MMM...Tomatoes...Preferably home-grown, organic, not genetically modified, still warm from the vine.

Eaten with just a sprinkle of salt and some (also home grown) basil leaves.

But how does one define "enough"? Enough for what?

aldona

[Dr. Shane]

Now Sister Aldona, I would think you should be the one telling us how much is enough. Homegrown are diffinately the best and the can be grown in a large flower pot so most anyone can grow their own.

[Nicodema]

I like organic, vine-ripened tomatoes sliced by themselves on toasted whole grain bread with a little mayo. Yum!

I probably don't eat enough of them though, but I do like them.

[Clio]

We planted 15 tomato plants in our garden last week... We LOVE tomatos... we probably eat 10 a week.

[Planey]

I refrain from tomatoes. Especially sun-dried.

Tomatoes are a relative of the deadly nightshade and never intended to be food.

Graeme

[Nan]

Isnt it only recent times that tomatoes have been eaten ? I seem to recall that in ages past they were regarded as poisonous.

I call tomato juice one of the 7 wonders of the world (others include sarsaparilla/root beer, and mangoes). But the best form of tomato is the fresh sun ripened one as described above, with salt.

[bevin]

Do you avoid potatos for the same reason?

/Bevin

[aldona]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Shane said:

Now Sister Aldona, I would think you should be the one telling us how much is enough. Homegrown are diffinately the best and the can be grown in a large flower pot so most anyone can grow their own.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

As far as I know there is no hard and fast rule about how many tomatoes to eat...

The general guideline (according to the Australian health authorities) is to eat at least two serves of fruit and five vegetables each day. Preferably of different colors and types. Of course, more is even better.

However, since a tomato can be both a fruit and a vegetable, I think I will have 7 serves of tomatoes tomorrow to make up my quota. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/coolhello.gif" alt="" />

aldona

[mariann]

I like little Spanish sweet-sour tomatoes - mmmmmmm.

Yea, unripe tomatoes do contain poisonous alkaloids like solanine, like all small fruits, but it requires a concentrated amount to induce sickness.

Tomatoes also contains many vitamins, minerals and flavonoids which are powerful antioxidants that may enhance blood flow to the retina while fighting free radical damage.

Tomatoes contains another powerful antioxidant - carotenoid lycopene (C40H56). The unique structure and chemistry of lycopene contribute to its ability to protect against oxidative damage. Lycopene may help to neutralize the cell-damaging free radicals that are considered a leading cause of macular degeneration. Studies found that lycopene may help reduce some cancer and heart disease and may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

Someone mentioned GM... I do not actually hold with GMOs but, for example, GM-tomatoes aren't nothing mystical. Ex: Pectinase enzymes (in tomatoes) break down pectin in the middle lamella layer between cells causing the fruit wall tissue to decompose rapidly. By introducing synthetic genes into the tomato nuclear genome, enzyme production can be blocked. The synthetic genes produce complimentary RNA strands that bind to the normal RNA that codes for the fruit ripening genes. In other words, the normal RNA is blocked so that translation and enzyme synthesis at the ribosomes does not occur. GM-tomato plants have been produced with delayed fruit ripening and softening. The fruits can be picked at the final stages of ripening, but will not get soft and mushy. A later treatment with ethylene causes the final softening and ripening to resume, just in time for the grocer's shelves.

But other hand - damaces and mutations in methabolic pathways may cause serious change of the whole GMO methabolism (may cause producing perilous toxines) and that's the area which is not enough examined, so I can't accept GMOs yet.

[Fran]

#1 Divine Bite sized Taste Teasers

• Get a crustless thin slice of bread spread with mayo.

• Add very deli thin sliced burpless cucumbers-cut on the angle

• Top off with deli thin sliced tomatoes that are ever so lightly salted

• Slice the open faced sandwich crosswise twice into 4 triangles

• Place a tooth pick in each triangle (It keeps everything in place)

It is to be eaten as open faced mini sandwiches.

There is just enough to spark the taste buds. That is the way it was served in Japan. I still fix this because it is a taste teaser. You can eat a plate full and still want more!

#2. The America, Land of Plenty, Tomato Sandwich

• Use 2 slices of bread mayo'd

• Slice the tomato as thick as you like

• Leave the cucumbers off unless it is burpless and thin. Otherwise it overwhelms the juicy, slurpy, mayo sloppy tomato.

Yum, yum, eat ‘um up. These sandwiches are to die for.

#3 Simply Squash Casserole

• Cook yellow summer squash with chopped or sliced onions.

• Salt to taste.

• Remove the squash from the heat when squash and onions are tender enough for you.

• Pour any excess liquids off if desired.

• Add sliced tomatoes over the top of the squash.

• Top the tomatoes with cheese or soy cheese.

• Cover and allow the heat of the squash to melt the cheese and heat the tomatoes.

Serve hot. Oh so good!

When I can get vine ripe ones I buy them by the flat from the farmers market and none go to waste. HOWEVER, BEWARE! NEVER use what stores CALL tomatoes! They are NOT REAL! Use only VINE RIPENED REAL TOMATOES.

#4 Tomato in the Raw

• I have to go eat a tomato with salt right NOW!

[Dr. Shane]

<img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/129933-offtopic2.gif" alt="" />

Now isn't cabbage and carrots popular in Estonia?

[mariann]

How is it offtopic, eh? I replied to Christine Wall's question and Planey's statement....

Cabbage and carrots? Don't understand.. sorry. Why do you think so?

[Fran]

Mariann,

I found your information very helpful and right on the mark.

Now I love cabbage AND carrots. Especially Cabbage. Can you give us a short accounting of cabbage. I know Carrots are full of Vitamin A and help our eyes. Your explaination on tomatoes was very understanable.

Your post has convinced me I need more raw tomatoes in my diet.

Thanks for your post. It was very helpful for me. As for me and my house, we eill stick with organic tomates and other produce for as long as they are available. Then I guess we will grow them.

[mariann]

Thakns, Fran.

Quote:

---

Fran said:

Can you give us a short accounting of cabbage.

---

- This sentence makes me LOL. 'accounting of cabbage' - Oh, I got good mood.

But if I tell you about cabbage it would be offtopic again... So I'd better make a new topic for you, OK?

[cricket]

Mariann,

At a church potluck a few months back a woman there told everyone that tomatoes are genetically modified with pork. Something about injecting swine...

Do you have any information about this? Have you heard of this before?

Chrys

[Ron Lambert]

Wow, I used to think tomatoes were good for you, with their Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and lycopenes. Now I hear they may be poisonous because they're in the nightshade family, and they may be "genetically modified with pork."

Oh well, like my non-vegetarian brother Dan likes to say, "How can anything that grows in dirt be good for you?"

[mariann]

Oh, my.... 'somebody heard something'...

That doesn't matter that tomato is in the FAMILIA (not family or genus) Solanaceae. Potato is more close to nightshade than tomato, knew that?

Tomato - in the genus of Solanaceae - Lycopersicon esculentum.

Potato - in the genus of SOLANUM (the same family where is nightshade) - Solanum tumberosum

Nightshade - in the genus of SOLANUM - Solanum dulcamara or Solanum nigrum.

See - tomato even doesn't belong to the same genus with nightshade, but potato does.

And noticed - tomato's name Lycopersicon? Quess once where the name came from. Hint: lycopene

[Fran]

I thought you might enjoy that term. I was laughing when I typed it in! I am an accountant. I deal in facts about numbers.

Oh yes this is about tomatoes!

[mariann]

Hey, Fran. Answer to your question is here: here

And answer to Chrys: here

[Dr. Shane]

Sister Mariann:

I am the one that went off topic <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> by asking you about cabbage and carrots <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/oops.gif" alt="" />

[NormF]

Curiously enough, according to labels and tables, there's more lycopene in tomato juice than in raw tomatoes. And the "poisonous" character of tomatoes as nightshade members was what kept them off of American tables, maybe more, for years and years, until relatively recently (at least within the historical perspective).

Neither is a problem for me - I make up for it with quantity. <grin> I can't get enough tomato, long as they taste good. And homegrown tops that list. Old guys like me need that stuff!

Regards,

Norm

[Planey]

Truth be told, I (like you) absolutely love tomatoes. When we lived in the Papua New Guinea highlands we always had three beds of tomatoes current - one of seedlings, one half grown and one producing. Why? Because we could! The climate up there (around 3000 to 3500 feet) was 'eternal spring' and things grew wonderfully well.

But unfortunately my body now forbids me from ingesting much potassium, so tomatoes are now on my 'very restricted' list of foods. Even then, I am limited to fresh tomatoes, things such as sauces containing tomato and (even worse) sun-dried tomatoes are totally forbidden. I daily suffer much from this, be assured!

Interestingly (as Bevin suggested) potatoes are also on my list of restricted foods for the same reasons. No mashed potato, no french fries, no crisps, no potato gems, just the occasional small piece of boiled spud...

Graeme