![]() ![]() It is true that when word got out about my tomato winemaking venture to friends-of-friends in Napa, eyebrows were raised. “Since the 1930′s, the superiority of wine made from Vitis Vinifera grapes has been maintained so insistently in culinary circles that the splendors of tomato wine, rhubarb wine, and strawberry wine have been discounted.” In the chapter of “Southern Provisions” about sugar, David Shields discussed the historic variety of American wines. Let no lover of the delicious tomato be deterred from enjoying it for fear of taking anything bearing the slightest resemblance to calomel or any other medicine, but eat as many as he likes without thinking of his liver or the doctor.“ – The American Agriculturist, Volume 24, 1865 The tomato extract dodge was tried years ago, and we had “Tomato pills, will cure all ills,” as the quack epidemic for its day. No ‘good medical authority’ ever wrote himself down such a stupid as to accuse the tomato-vine of being an apothecary’s shop… Just think of what a condition our livers must be in at the close of tomato season, after being so powerfully ‘aperiented’ to say nothing of the ‘other organs.’ The whole thing savors of the most arrogant quackery. “ The following precious nonsense is going the rounds of the agricultural and other papers: ’ A good medical authority ascribes to the tomato… important medical qualifications… the tomato is one of the most powerful aperients of the liver and other organs… it is one of the most effective and the least harmful medical agents known… a chemical extract will be obtained from it that will supersede the use of calomel in the cure of diseases”… In a scathing and humorous editorial, they praised the tomato as food while dismissing the medicinal claims: In 1865, “The American Agriculturalist” had had enough. Some recipes promised to “retain the well-known properties of the fruit.” Others claimed the resulting drink resembled Champagne or Madeira. Tomato wine appeared in regional newspapers as well – including the Baltimore Sun in 1856. Chase’s Recipes” publication alongside fruit wines, remedies, animal husbandry and other information. The recipe was popularized in the widely circulated “Dr. Tomato wine experienced a surge in popularity in tandem with this. Newspaper advertisements in the 1830s and 1840s offered a variety of brands of tomato pills guaranteed to cure “all diseases of the blood.” Manufacturers of cure-all pills and tonics capitalized on the craze by peddling tomato extract pills (which may or may not have contained any trace of tomatoes.) Bennett promoted recipes for tomato pickles, sauces, and ketchup. John Cook Bennett, who publicized tomatoes as a cure for dyspepsia, Cholera, and liver problems among other things. The idea of tomatoes being a panacea is attributed to a Dr. Whether or not colonists or Europeans had previously suspected tomatoes of being poisonous, in the early 1800′s, the opposite was true. Tomatoes were really taking off in popularity around this time. “ Early American Beverages,” by John Hull Brown reprinted recipes for a staggering variety of wines that could be found in 19th-century America, including apricot, birch, egg, ginger, lemon, sage, turnip and walnut leaf. ![]() It was the increased availability of sugar in the 1800′s that really fueled a century of creative wine brewing.Īccording to Waverley Root and Richard De Rochemont in “Eating in America,” “every housewife knew how to make ‘weed wines’ fermented from “any product of field or garden” – dandelion, elderflower, spinach, tomato, mint, “and of course berries.” Cooper believed that “by using the clean honey instead of the comb… such an improvement might be made as would enable the citizens of the United States to supply themselves with a truly federal and wholesome wine.” In an 1790, the Maryland Gazette reported that a New Jersey man, Joseph Cooper, Esq., could make the elusive “excellent American wine” from honey and cider. (Don’t worry – we’ll revisit that topic later this summer…) Wine was a little more complicated.Įuropean grapes didn’t always fare so well in America, and the native ones didn’t always make wine that was considered palatable. ![]() Cider was fairly easy to make from fruits like apples and pears. (And the two processes were often intertwined.)īeer appeared in the first American cookbook, “American Cookery”, by Amelia Simmons in 1796. Interspersed with the shrubs, the cherry bounce, eggnog and Fish House Punch in 19th-century Maryland cookbooks are some of the most intriguing and intimidating recipes: for wines and beers.īrewing was a part of everyday household management, hardly considered any more frivolous than bread. “ If the Tomato be as highly medicinal as it has been represented, it may be anticipated that this wine will find favor with the public.” – Milwaukee Sentinal, June 1840 ![]()
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