What Time is it?

What time is it?  Well, in Arkansas it’s tomato harvest time!  Sister Helen and Laura are canning salsa.  Laura shared a jar with me.  It makes a good meal for an old lady who is retired from cooking.  Cousin Irene shared some of the jewels with me.  She planted tomatoes low in acid and one she called a pineapple tomato.  I’ve had the yellow before but am anxious to try the pineapple variety.  

Botanically, a tomato is a fruit—a berry, consisting of the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. We eat it like a vegetable though.   Of course, it’s common knowledge that the tomato is native to our land.  The Aztecs planted and harvested them before Europeans crossed the pond.  The word tomato comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl, meaning 'the swelling fruit'.  The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate meaning 'fat water' or 'fat thing').  When Aztecs started to cultivate the fruit to be larger, sweeter and red, they called the new variety xitomatl which translates plump with navel' or 'fat water with navel.  The scientific species name lycopersicum meaning 'wolf peach'.

Cousin Irene’s yellow, red and pineapple tomatoes

Laura’s salsa

Sister Helen’s red jewels

 Yummy salsa by Lil Red