Description: An annual, fast-growing plant, with many branches, all covered with soft glandular hairs, which give off the characteristic tomato smell. Leaves are interruptedly unpaired pinnate bearing in their axils yellow star-like flowers arranged in clusters. The fruit is usually a multichambered, juicy berry, but in cultivated plants it greatly varies in shape, size and colour, and can be globose to irregularly lobate, smooth or deeply grooved, red, yellow or orange.
Origin and Distribution: Probably native to the mountain valleys of the Peruvian Andes from where it was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. During the 18th and 19th centuries its cultivation spread throughout the world and it became an important food plant. Related species Solanum racemigerum and Solanum pimpinelifolium are used for hybridization in the breeding of new varieties.
Constituents: The edible fruits contain organic acids, saccharides, carotenoid colouring substances, vitamins C, A and B complex, and inorganic substances. The rest of the plant is poisonous.
Cosmetic Uses: The juice of fresh tomatoes cleanses, refines and beautifies the skin. Tomatoes are therefore useful in fruit pulp face packs. To prepare a tomato pack, cut tomatoes into thin slices, squash them and mix with several drops of lemon juice. On a well-washed face apply a moisturizer in a thin film, then cover with a thin layer of dry cotton wool which is in turn covered with a layer of cotton wool soaked with the mashed tomato pulp. After a quarter of an hour the pack is removed, more moisturizer is applied to the face and cleaned off with cotton wool soaked in tomato juice. The pack is excellent for blackheads and faded, tired skin. Tomato juice is also added to face creams.
Other Uses: Tomatoes are a popular vegetable and are used in a wide variety of ways. Tomato juice is drunk, tomatoes may be eaten fresh or cooked, used to make juice or preserved as tomato purée, ketchup, and chutney.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Tomato
- Some Tomato Troubles： Blossom drop, Curling of leaves, Sunscald, rot, Catfacing, Garden Tips for Growing Perfect Vegetables
- The simple way I get Juicy, even-Ripening Picture Perfect Tomatoes: Growing Tomatoes Plants in cages
- Flourish Garden, Keep Tomatoes Upright
- The Vegetable Box
- Keeping Tomatoes Healthy, Compost Soil, Pests, Fertilizer, and Freshness
- Let's Relax about Pruning Tomatoes
- How to Have the First Ripe Tomatoes in Your Neighborhood
- Tomato Plants rotten attack
- Hand by Hand Guide Planting Fresh Garden Tomatoes from Tine Seeds
- Tomato Plants: What I've learned about planting tomatoes
Leave a Reply