THE LOVE APPLE

A LITTLE WAY TO SAY I LOVE YOU With Valentine's Day around the corner, there's no better symbol to weave into your meals than the 'auld love apple.

WHAT'S A LOVE APPLE? Perhaps you're not sure what a love apple is. I'll give you a hint. It's a fruit. A juicy red plum? No. A succulent strawberry? No. Surprisingly, its something most of us consider to be a vegetable--the versatile TOMATO.

ABOUT THE LOVE APPLE Strangely, this fruit is believed to have originated in Europe and migrated to South America. Cultivated by the Incas and the Aztecs in about 700 AD, its use spread throughout Mexico and the Andes Mountains of Peru. Its seeds were likely re-introduced to Europe in or about 1519 by explorer Hernandez Cortez, who carried them back to Spain.

When the tomato began its incline in popularity back in the 16th century, somehow, the rumor got started that this food would make a person "more romantic." Records exist of the tomato being used in salads. Soon, use of the fruit expanded to Portugal, France and Italy, where it was embraced and became known as many things--in Northern Europe, the devil's wolf apple; in Italy, the golden apple; and in Spain, the moor's apple. As a result of the continued belief that it could arouse passion, France deemed it a "love apple, " and the Germans, in the 1800s, an "apple of paradise."

The word tomato stems from the French, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, probably translation of French pomme d'amour, , from the former belief in the tomato's aphrodisiacal powers, pomme, apple, + de, of, + amour, love. In addition, a translation of the Liebesapfel, means literally, in German, "love apple," and the old Italian word for tomato, "pomi d'amore" means apple of love.

The love apple did not arrive into the American Colonies until 1770, where use was found only it is flowers. As Colonists considered the fruit poisonous, a belief picked up from the British, the heart-shaped food simply fell to the ground and wasted. With the immigration of many French to the States in 1812, use of the tomato in gourmet recipes began to be practiced. Another assistant to the popularity cause of the tomato was President Thomas Jefferson, who ate tomatoes readily. Now, the tomato tops the charts as America's third highly produced crop. No longer just a salad or sauce ingredient, it is used in quiches, soups, catsup, salad dressings and as a snack.

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