Open Your Eyes To The Infinite Possibility Of The Tomato

[Keiththibodeaux]

Nice little article. Pardon, if someone else already shared it.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...-of-the-tomato

[pauldavid]

Nice article, thanks for sharing Keith.

[Timbales]

One of the dishes they talk about in the article was served with the tomato vine. I was under the impression that tomato leaves are poisonous. Are the vines edible?

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Timbales

One of the dishes they talk about in the article was served with the tomato vine. I was under the impression that tomato leaves are poisonous. Are the vines edible?

Tomatoes do not contain solanine, which, in high concentrations, is what makes other members of the nightshade family toxic. Tomato plants do have a lot of tomatine, but tomatine is not particularly harmful as glycoalkaloids go. Unless you have a sensitivity to tomatine, eating tomato leaves, especially in small quantities as an accent or flavor enhancer, should be fine. The dose makes the poison and the cure, as with most things, and it's probably hard to eat enough tomato leaves to cause ill effects, whereas there may be some health benefits (tomatine is being looked at for potential anti-cancer activity). I think the worst that would happen is if you would find out through gastrointestinal distress if you have a sensitivity to tomatine.

EDITED TO ADD: I think there isn't a lot of information on how tomatine would affect pets. Cats and dogs respond very differently to certain alkaloids (e.g., theobromine/theophylline in chocolate can be dangerous to dogs even in small doses), so you probably don't want to let your pets nosh on tomato leaves until they do more research. Anecdotal evidence that I've gathered suggests that cats can nibble on tomato seedlings without ill effect other than lots of yelling and gnashing of teeth from large hairless primates that catch them at it.

[Keiththibodeaux]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Tomatoes do not contain solanine, which, in high concentrations, is what makes other members of the nightshade family toxic. Tomato plants do have a lot of tomatine, but tomatine is not particularly harmful as glycoalkaloids go. Unless you have a sensitivity to tomatine, eating tomato leaves, especially in small quantities as an accent or flavor enhancer, should be fine. The dose makes the poison and the cure, as with most things, and it's probably hard to eat enough tomato leaves to cause ill effects, whereas there may be some health benefits (tomatine is being looked at for potential anti-cancer activity). I think the worst that would happen is if you would find out through gastrointestinal distress if you have a sensitivity to tomatine.

EDITED TO ADD: I think there isn't a lot of information on how tomatine would affect pets. Cats and dogs respond very differently to certain alkaloids (e.g., theobromine/theophylline in chocolate can be dangerous to dogs even in small doses), so you probably don't want to let your pets nosh on tomato leaves until they do more research. Anecdotal evidence that I've gathered suggests that cats can nibble on tomato seedlings without ill effect other than lots of yelling and gnashing of teeth from large hairless primates that catch them at it.

[Deborah]

Maybe the chef was just using the leaves as decoration/garnish. That would be a turn off for me though.

[gorbelly]

Paul Bertolli of Chez Panisse had used them in his tomato sauces for years to add a punch of fresh tomato flavor.

Harold McGee also has a tomato leaf pesto recipe.

I'm going to try these next year.

[Deborah]

Ick !

[Deborah]

Hmmm... that came across as judgmental and rude. Is there an apologetic blushing emoticon?

[ScottinAtlanta]

Ick is never rude. It just is.

[gorbelly]

Eh, I immigrated to the US in the 70s from Asia, have lived and studied in Europe, and took advantage of the dizzying variety of cuisines available in NYC for 20 years. I'm pretty used to people saying "ick" about the things I'm willing to try.

[Deborah]

I took back my ick !

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Deborah

I took back my ick !

I didn't meant to criticize! I just meant that "ick" is often the kind of gut reaction that I don't think should be taken personally. It's different from people who get judgmental about people for what they eat. I'd rather deal with an understandable and honest "ick" from someone when I say that one of my favorite foods is raw octopus but who doesn't think any less of me as a human being despite the reaction to the food than the person who condemns me as bad person for eating meat!

[Deborah]

I know you weren't criticizing. OK, here comes and honest ick about the octopus ! ICK ! LOL !

[Deborah]

Why is my exclamation point out there all by itself?