Master Gardener Ann Bartlett gives us a short history of a few members of the nightshade family.
A member of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, the tomato must be the most popular crop in the country among home gardeners. We grow tomatoes in pots and plots. We eat them in salads and sandwiches. Some folks preserve them to use all year.
When the harvest is bountiful, we share them with friends and coworkers. A vine-ripened tomato has no equal in flavor. And two tomato cousins in the nightshade family have also gained popularity among gardeners: peppers and eggplants.
Tomatoes were called tomatl by the Aztecs, and the Spanish brought them to Europe in the early 1500s. The tomato quickly spread to Italy and southern France, where it was used as a decorative vine. Only in Spain and Italy were they eaten raw. Elsewhere it was believed that they had to be thoroughly cooked. In fact, potassium-rich tomatoes have only been a summer sensation for about a century.
The culinary chart topper of the sixteenth century was tomato’s cousin, the pepper. In1493 Columbus brought peppers to Spain, where their flavor—whether sweet or fiery—was most welcome. The Portuguese introduced them into India. There, as in southern Europe, the flavorful peppers were immediately embraced.
Chili is the most popular spice on the planet. The heat is determined by the amount of capsaicin in the fruit. It is most concentrated in the seeds, so you may need to wear gloves while preparing them. Chilis are an excellent source of vitamins A and C. There is research suggesting that capsaicin may have many health benefits.
Ornamental peppers, also edible, are usually very hot. It is believed that they look more like “wild” peppers. Those we grow in the garden have fruit that hangs below the leaves, offering some protection from birds. The showy upright fruit of ornamentals begs for something to swoop down and eat it—all the better to spread seeds.
A third member of this plant family is the eggplant. Called aubergine in other countries, eggplants have been around southern Asia for millennia. The Moors brought them to Spain, but they were not popular farther north. In fact, until recently, the vegetable was regarded as a curiosity.
Eggplant is a good source of some B vitamins as well as vitamin C. The skin is more nutrient-rich than the flesh. Recipes often call for salting the cut vegetable to reduce the amount of water in it. Not wanting to consume the extra sodium, I have found that roasting or grilling sliced eggplant achieves the same end.
You may ask how these vegetables (and potatoes as well) can possibly be in the same family. Our botanists buddy, Linnaeus, based much of his system of classification on the plant’s flowers. The flowers do share a resemblance, but more importantly, backyard farmers need to think of these as a group when planning for crop rotation or companion planting.