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"OMG! THE CHILI IS AMAZING!! AND IT IS SOO EASY TO MAKE! People - You have to at least try it once! Please try the chili!! Even before you eat it, you will fall in love with it! IT SMELLS INCREDIBLE! E.D. Foods should make a chili cologne! It smells that good! This site makes me soo hungry!! haha. Seriously, just please try some!! ++ Portions are BIG!"
Ashar Ansari, AB

A tomato by any other name would taste as delicious, right? Not necessarily. The tomato can be traced back to the early Aztecs around 700 AD. However, it took some cultures a few millennia for the culinary value of tomatoes to catch on, and often, the name given to these unique vegetables was very representative of how the society saw them.

The French affectionately called tomatoes "Pomme D'Amour" (love apple) while Germans preferred "Apple of Paradise" and the Italians referred to tomatoes as "Pomodoro" or Golden Apples - which many believe indicates that Italian tomatoes were of the yellow variety. These countires were fond of tomatoes and used them often in their cooking.

Not everyone was as fond of these new little plants though. The British found tomatoes to be very beautiful and enjoyed growing them for decoration. They were afraid to eat them though, thinking that they were poisonous, and referred to them as a "Wolf Peach", feeling that tomatoes were both as beautiful and as dangerous as a wolf.

America joined in with this view and tomatoes were considered purely for decoration until the early 1800's, when the Creoles in New Orleans introduced everyone to their delicious Gumbos and Jambalayas, and the popularity of this small veggie grew.

Fruit or Veggie?

Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable? The debate has gone on for years. Botanically, the tomato is a fruit. A fruit is generally considered the edible part of the plant that contains the seeds, where a vegetable is the edible stems, leaves and roots of the plant. Under this definition, it's obvious that the tomato can only be a fruit, as the leaves and stems contain toxic alkaloids, and shouldn't be eaten. However, it seems that these little 'fruits' had a run-in with the law back in 1893 for tax evasion due to this fruit/veggie conundrum.

Back then, there was a tariff set for the import of vegetables, but not for fruits (anyone see where this is going?). So Jon Nix, a fruit importer, was none too pleased when he was asked to pay the vegetable tariff on his boatload of tomatoes. He argued that they were actually fruit, and the disagreement ended up in front of the Supreme Court.

After arguments were presented and both sides heard, it was found by the Supreme Court that since tomatoes are both known and used as vegetables, that was what they would be classified as. So, the next time you get into the ol' "Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?" argument (and we all do at some point :-) ), you can say, with the full backing of the Supreme Court, that tomatoes are, in fact, a vegetable. Click here for the full ruling

Selecting

There are so many different varieties of tomatoes, that it can difficult to select the right one. When choosing tomatoes, you want to look for ones that have a deep rich color and a sweet fragrance. Ripe tomatoes will yield to slight pressure and should be well shaped and smooth skinned (no wrinkles, cracks, bruises or soft spots). Depending on what you plan to use your tomatoes for, you might want to be a little less picky for some characteristics and more so for others:
Sauces, Jam or Salsa - Shape and bruises are not that important, but you also don't want overripe or inferior quality, as this will effect the final taste of your sauce.
Stuffing - Choose evenly shaped tomatoes without bruises.
Salads - Choose tomatoes that smell fresh - the aroma will give you a hint of the taste.

Storing/Ripening

How you should store your tomatoes depends on where your tomatoes come from, whether it be the local supermarket or your own back yard. Tomatoes are very sensitive to the cold. When you put them in the fridge, the sugars tend to break down, the juices dry, the consistency, overall, becomes "gummy" and you end up loosing the great flavorful taste.

So if your tomatoes are straight from the vine, you should store your tomatoes at room temperature. Depending on how ripe they are when you purchase them, they will keep for up to a week. If you would like to speed up the ripening processes, place your tomatoes in a paper bag along with a banana or apple (the ethylene gas these fruits emit will speed up maturation). And if your tomato is beginning to look a tad overripe, but you're not quite ready to eat it yet, place it in the refrigerator (if possible, in the butter compartment, where it is a little warmer) to keep for another day or two.

However, if your tomatoes are from your local grocery store, the story changes a bit. Most tomatoes from the supermarkets have already spent considerable time in the refrigerator and will no longer keep well unrefrigerated. These tomatoes will have to stored in the fridge, and will keep up to a week. To help them regain their flavor and juiciness, remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before using them.

Freezing/Canning

This section alone could be an entire newsletter. There are many different methods to freezing or canning your tomatoes, depending on what you want to do with them after or what sort of tomato product (whole, diced, juice) you'd like to preserve. Instead, I'm going to provide you with some great links that take you step-by-step through the freezing/canning processes.

www.homecanning.com/can/ALNewsLetter

www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/yf/foods

*Notes:

-> Please follow the canning instructions exactly. If it's done improperly, it can potentially be dangerous to your health (see the next section for more information).

-> When unfreezing tomatoes, use only for cooking - they will no longer be suitable to eat raw (well, you can, but it won't taste very good).

Pretty Darn Good For You

Tomatoes are packed with many important vitamins and minerals and even a fair amount of fiber. However, there is one nutrient in tomatoes which has been keeping phytonutrient researchers very busy - a carotenoid called lycopene, which is found in tomatoes, has been repeatedly studied in humans and found to be protective against a growing list of cancers, including colorectal, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancers.
It is believed that lycopene protects against cancer by activating cancer-preventive phase II enzymes. When testing this theory, lycopene resulted in a higher production and activity of these protective enzymes, while other carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, astaxanthin and phytoene, did not produce this effect. For more information on lycopene and its anti-cancer properties, please visit

www.lycopene.org/

And tomatoes don't stop there, either! They are chock-full of anti-oxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin A. Antioxidants play an important part in protecting your body against free radicals that could otherwise damage cells and cell membranes. If your cells suffer enough damage from free radicals, it could lead to atherosclerosis, diabetic complications, asthma and colon cancer.

Tomatoes are also very good sources of potassium, niacin, vitamin B6 and folate. These all play important parts in keeping your heart healthy. Niacin has been used for years as a safe way to lower high cholesterol levels. Potassium has been shown to lower high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, and vitamin B6 and folate are both needed by the body to convert potentially dangerous chemical homocysteine into other, benign molecules (high levels of homocysteine can directly damage blood vessel walls).
So, when you cut up some tomatoes for your salad tonight, you can relax and enjoy all the great taste, knowing your doing something to keep yourself healthy!

Tomatoes Can't Always Play Nice

By this point in the newsletter, everyone now knows how to select, store and preserve your tomatoes and how healthful and delicious they are. Unfortunately though, this fruit does have it's own quirks and can not only aggravate certain conditions, but can also be potentially toxic if not handled or prepared properly.

Lead
Tomatoes are high in acid, which certainly doesn't make them directly dangerous or unhealthy. But it is the indirect danger that must be thought of when purchasing or preparing your tomatoes. The first acidic danger comes from canned tomatoes and their packaging. While the US has very strict standards regarding the lead content of their containers, many other foreign countries do not. This is especially important to note when dealing with fruit or other high-acid foods, such as tomatoes, since high acid content can cause corrosion to the can, and subsequent leeching of these toxic metals into the foods within.
The high acid content of tomatoes was actually a contributing factor to the fear of the British that tomatoes were, in fact, deadly. In those times, the rich used flatware made of pewter, which has a high-lead content. As a result, foods that were high in acid would cause the lead to leech out into the food, resulting in lead poisoning and death. As the poor ate off plates made of wood, they had no such problem and happily ate many a tomato before views started to change in the 1800's.

Aluminum
As just mentioned, foods high in acidity can interact with certain metals and can be dangerous. Aluminum is another of these dangerous, and potentially toxic, metals. You should never cook acidic foods, such as tomatoes, on aluminum cookware. The acidity will interact with this metal and could result in aluminum being leeched into your food. Not only will this leave your food with a very unpleasant taste, but could have very negative effects on your health.

Nightshades
Tomatoes are part of the Nightshade family (or the Solanaceae family) - a group that includes potatoes, peppers, eggplant and tobacco, among others.

It's thought that this name came from the Romans who ground up a deadly black 'nightshade' and put it an alcoholic drink intended for an enemy. Although not all members of this intimidatingly-named family are poisonous or deadly, they do all carry a common curse. When consumed frequently or to excess, the members of the Nightshade family can cause aches, pains, and can cause mild to severe symptoms for arthritis sufferers. For more information on the link between Nightshades and Arthritis, please visit the links below:

www.noarthritis.com

www.arthritissupport.com/library/Arthritis

Outrageously Good Tomato Soup Spice Cake
Serves 16

2 single-serve O.G. Instant Tomato Soup Mix Envelopes
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 butter (unsalted if low sodium is preferred)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup raisins

1. Whisk together the tomato soup mix and the boiling water. Whisk in the baking soda and let it stand.

2. Cream sugar, egg, butter, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Mix in the tomato soup mixture, and then the flour. Stir in the raisins, and pour the batter into a 10-inch square greased baking dish.

3. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour, or until done. Cook the cake and top with cream cheese icing (lemon icing also works well)

2 ears of corn, husked
4 ripe plum tomatoes
1 large red onion, chopped
1 canned chipotle chile, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

1. Brush the corn with olive oil. In a shallow roasting pan, place the tomatoes and the corn and broil at 450 degrees until the tomato skin is blistered and charred. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. Dice the tomatoes and scrape the kernels from the cob.

3. In a serving bowl, combine the tomatoes and corn with the rest of the ingredients. Add salt as desired. Let stand for 30 minutes and serve with your favorite roasted or grilled foods.

Tomato-Mozzarella Salad
Serves 4

4 tbsp high quality olive oil
4 large tomatoes
10 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thickly sliced
8 leaves fresh basil, torn into strips
ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

1. Chop tomatoes in half, then slice finely; arrange on 4 plates. Trickle a tablespoon of olive oil over each serving, and sprinkle with black pepper and sea salt to taste.

2. Lay slices of cheese over tomatoes, and strips of basil over cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Tomato Wine Sauce
Yields 3 1/2 cups

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions (about 1 medium onion)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/3 cup red wine
3 cups undrained canned tomatoes (28-ounce can)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a saucepan, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic, sprinkle with the salt, cover and saute on very low heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to soften.

2. Add the fennel, oregano, and basil and cook for another minute. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil.

3. Whirl the tomatoes in a blender until just pureed and add to the pan. Cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato Cream Mussels
Serve 4

1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bulb fennel - trimmed, cored and thinly sliced
1 large tomato, cubed
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup ouzo
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 lbs mussels, cleaned and debearded
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
salt to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic, and cook until tender. Stir in fennel and tomato, and continue cooking about 5 minutes.

2. Mix white wine, ouzo and heavy cream into the saucepan, and bring to a boil. Gradually stir in mussels, 1/2 the basil and salt.

3. Cover the saucepan and continue cooking about 5 minutes, until the mussels have opened. Garnish with remaining basil and serve.

Found on Allrecipes

Chicken Florentine
Serve 2

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1/2 inch thick
2 cups fresh spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup Roma tomatoes, diced
1 tsp basil
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and brown the onions. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts as desired and add to the onions to brown.

2. Add in the chopped tomatoes and the basil. Let cook on medium heat for 25 minutes, slightly stirring to avoid sticking.

3. Meanwhile, blanch the spinach in hot water for 3 minutes and place on the serving dish. Drizzle with olive oil.

4. Place the chicken with the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with the parmesan and serve.

** This is perfect to enjoy on a bed of your favorite pasta

"We LOVE your Soups. I have to admit they are the best "dried" soup mixes we have ever had. Thank you for such a great product and YOU have a loyal customer from here to ??????. Again we thank you for a wonderful product."
Eve Knepp, PA

"They are all excellent. I am using them to support a school lunch program at a small isolated First Nations School. Your products are good nutritionally and economically, and they are going over well with our students. Thank you."
Patrick Palmer, BC

"I've tried just about everything over the last two years and its all amazing, without a doubt the best packaged products on the market. I also wanted to compliment you on your new, updated website! Cudos! Its awesome. Congrats on your new baby and keep up the good work."
Lexan Koenig, NJ

"Wow, I was very impressed great quality and quantity for the price. I was also very impressed with the flavor, the spices added and the fact that you didn't have to add the whole bag! I'll definitely be back."
Tania Bigelow, MB

www.worldfamousrecipes.com/tomato-recipes.html
Can you really have too many tomato recipes? Really?

www.furmanos.com/
I know this is a company's site and we're not promoting their product - but they have some great facts and information about tomatoes and is worth checking out

If you have a question for the Soup Lady, click here! We promise we'll answer you as soon as possible, even if it doesn't appear in our newsletter.

Dear Soup Lady,

"My family and I enjoy your soups. Can you please tell me what the shelf life of your soups are?"

-TJ

Hi TJ,

We get asked about the shelf life of our soups quite often, and basically the shelf life depends on your storage conditions - High, Dry and Cool is the best.

We only ship fresh, but we store samples of our production here up to two years as a standard procedure against customer problems - and I know of many people who have used products of ours that were over 2 years old and
loved them! (They write and tell me!)

In fact, our Creamy Potato Soup is a standard in a lot of the Disaster Centers - they like the shelf life, ease of use - and of course, the rave reviews!

Our standard guarantee for perfect quality is one year - not because the product goes bad - but in the opinion of our taste panel, some of the spices may lose their strength after that - and they can taste a difference. (They are very picky people!)

Bottom line - I think our soups are great for long-storage - Why not go for the best!

Dear Soup Lady,

"I love your gravy, but I have a problem that I only use about 1/4 cup at a time, and the package makes 2 cups. How long can I freeze it? If frozen, can it be defrosted and re frozen? The same questions are for your soups too! Thanks"

-Don

Hi Don!

First of all - yes, you can freeze and re freeze all of our soups and sauces. We make all our products to be freeze-thaw stable, so even our chunky and noodle soups will freeze and thaw beautifully. However, the most important thing to remember when freezing our products is to make sure you're using a proper freezer container. Make sure there is no air left between the soup/sauce and the container (this will lead to oxidation and will ruin anything you try to freeze, not just soup!). If properly stored and frozen, our soups will last indefinitely - so make your soup, sauce or gravy now and you can enjoy whenever you'd like!

(This is a great way to enjoy our Chili or Big Bags of soup if you're not feeding 8-17 people at one time - just make it all, and freeze what you don't eat!

Santa Fe Tortilla Pasta

"I used the Santa Fe Tortilla soup, made as directed. Then had a bag of frozen Birdseye grilled summer squash with pasta and Italian herbs and fixed it as directed. I mixed them and WOW! I didn't believe your soups alone could be topped, but this was it! Gourmet taste and speedy fixin's"
Virginia Harbison, OH

Santa Fe Tortilla Dip

"The Santa Fe Tortilla soup makes an EXCELLENT dip...very creamy. I brought some over to my neighbors and they are still raving over it! It's also very good on baked potatoes!!"
Susan Haug, VA

"Very yummy! :-) Would buy again"
Peggy Delgadillo, CA

"Never had a bad one yet...THEY'RE ALL GREAT"
Donald Yanase, CA

"Looked very delicious, healthy, and tastes great"
Quyen Van, CA

- Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age

- Butterflies taste with their feet

- Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest

- The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle

- No word in the English language rhymes with month

- Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying

- The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns (Talk about environmentally unfriendly!)

- A rat can last longer without water than a camel

- The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with

- TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard

- A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second

- On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily! (The next time you get upset because your given the wrong change - just think of this!)

- A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere, and no one knows why

- 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks

- In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders

- In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere

- Bats always turn left when exiting a cave (Note to self: always stand on the right side of a cave entrance)

- Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different