How to Use Tomatoes, 1794

Love-Apples… The fruit of the wild sort is no bigger than a cherry; but those that grow in gardens are as big as a small apple, very round and red, and therefore called pomum amoris; some call them tomatoes. It hath a small sharp-pointed jagged leaf, growing very thick upon its stalk and branches; its fruit is round and red, or of an orange colour. I have eat five or six raw at a time: They are full of a pulpy juice, and of small seeds, which you swallow with the pulp, and have something of a gravy taste… the fruit, boiled in oil, is good for the itch.

Henry Barham, Hortus Americanus

Do you like gravy? Are you itchy? Then the love-apple is the New World fruit for you – perfect for snacking and for smearing all over yourself.