Subject: Love Apples

From: [email-masked] (Jane Beckman)
Date: 11 May 93 20:55:30 GMT

The term "love apples" came from a mistranslation.  Tomatos
were originally called (in French) "pomme de Moorea" (I'm not
positive of the spelling of "Moorea.")  This meant "apples of
the Moors," as the tomato caught on quickly in Moorish
cuisine.  Folks started slurring it, and since "pomme de
Moorea" sounds a lot like "pomme d'amour" it became "apples of
love."

A similar thing happened in the 18th century, when folks
started calling "asparagus" by the term "sparrowgrass."  (I
have an 1808 dictionary that deplores the corruption of the
word into the then-popular "sparrowgrass."  How it reverted
back, I don't know, but presumably the more educated segment
of society prevailed.

I have several recipes for tomatos that date from 1808-1821,
by the way, so I guess that they were pretty well accepted as
nonpoisonous by that point, Jefferson aside.
--
  Jilara   [[email-masked]]

"Every now and then, a big rock falls out of the sky, and everyone has 
a *very bad* day."  --from the PBS "Dinosaurs" special.