What is a tomato fig?

[Shule]

What is a tomato fig, as mentioned in the following link?

The Physiology of Taste, 1885, p. 359

In the description of a tomato variety known as Fig, or Red Pear, it says (emphasis added), ". . . It is very little used except for preserving and for making Tomato figs."

[Shule]

Okay, found it. Apparently, it's a recipe. There's a recipe for tomato figs on page 368 of the same book.

They sound like candied Red Pear tomatoes. The ingredients are
* Red Pear tomatoes
* Crushed cube sugar
* Powdered sugar

Warning: It mentions cooking tomatoes in a copper basin, which I've read could leach potentially deadly amounts of copper into your food (so, maybe use glass, ceramic, stainless steel or something).

Instructions:
"Dip [the Red Pear tomatoes] in boiling water and peel them, being careful not to injure them. Put five pounds of the tomatoes in an earthen jar with 5lbs of crushed cube sugar, then cover them and set them in a cool dry place for two or three days. Then drain the juice into a copper basin, set it on the fire to boil, skim it well and, when clear of all the scum, let the syrup cool and then pour it over the Tomatoes. Repeat this operation three times in one week. After this, when the weather is favorable, take the Tomatoes out of the jar, and place them on dishes or plates in the sun to dry for about six or seven days, occasionally turning them over, and when they are dried, put them in boxes lined with white paper. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over them, then put another layer of Tomatoes (not too close together), then powdered sugar again, then Tomatoes, and continue this until the box is full. Cover them and keep them in a dry place."

[worth1]

Just by reading the instructions I just knew it had to be an old book.
I looked it up and it was from 1885.
They cooked in a lot of copper back then.

[karstopography]

Interesting how that 1885 book lists a number of tomato cultivars that I never have heard of. Did those tomatoes mostly disappear from the face of the earth or morph into something else with now a different name? Or were the names sort of regional and the tomatoes were known by a different name in other places? Did the names of the tomatoes go away or did the tomatoes themselves go away? Or are these tomatoes still around, just not so fashionable these days?

The tomato fig recipe sounds interesting! Wonder if all that copper potware inhibited any chance of bacteria or mold taking over? Copper has natural strong anti-microbial properties.

[PNW_D]

reading this post brought back another early (1918) recipe book all about tomatoes ....... this has been posted before, but I thought perhaps those new to tomatoes may find it interesting - no tomato fig recipes, but 115 others to choose from

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/veg ... er-tomato/

[Shule]

Interesting how that 1885 book lists a number of tomato cultivars that I never have heard of. Did those tomatoes mostly disappear from the face of the earth or morph into something else with now a different name? Or were the names sort of regional and the tomatoes were known by a different name in other places? Did the names of the tomatoes go away or did the tomatoes themselves go away? Or are these tomatoes still around, just not so fashionable these days?
. . .

We at least still have these from among them (or at least tomatoes by the same name):
* Livingston's Favorite
* Red Pear
* Trophy (I haven't seen it calle The Trophy, however)
* Yellow Pear
* Yellow Plum

I don't know if we have Fejee, but we have Fejee Improved.

You can find more old tomato varieties and their descriptions here:

The Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1863), by Fearing Burr, Jr., pages 632 to 642.

White's Extra Early is one I've read about that has gone missing.

. . .
The tomato fig recipe sounds interesting! Wonder if all that copper potware inhibited any chance of bacteria or mold taking over? Copper has natural strong anti-microbial properties.

I'm sure it helped (I'm guessing quite a bit)!

[Danny]

Tomato figs were considered to be a sweetmeat, sort of a treat kind of thing. Granny used to make them. She had some copper pots and bowls, never seemed to make anyone sick. Aren't some waterlines made with copper pipe still?

[Shule]

Tomato figs were considered to be a sweetmeat, sort of a treat kind of thing. Granny used to make them. She had some copper pots and bowls, never seemed to make anyone sick. Aren't some waterlines made with copper pipe still?

Awesome.

Yes, there are copper waterpipes in homes, for sure; you can buy them at The Home Depot. The problem is supposedly with tomatoes specifically, because of the acids chelating the copper into the food. In waterpipes, unless you have acidic water, or similar, it's probably not much of a problem. For tomatoes, I guess it depends on how much copper actually gets in the result. A super acidic tomato would probably be a lot more dangerous to use than a mild tomato. Probably how long it stays in the pot matters, too. If you add baking soda, I imagine that would reduce the amount of copper taken up by the tomatoes. I imagine because the tomatoes aren't actually sauce, that reduces the copper uptake, too.

While I've never actually heard of a case of tomato-copper poisoning, copper can thin the blood, and too much copper in the system can cause internal bleeding, I've read. The upper limit for copper is 10mg a day (before it's possibly unsafe). Kidney failure and death can occur with a gram of copper sulfate. I'm not sure what happens everywhere else between the range of 10mg and 1g, and how that translates to the copper salts formed with the pots interacting with the tomatoes (I'm guessing those are mostly copper citrate, copper ascorbate, and copper malate).

There are perhaps about 13.7mg of ascorbic acid in 100g of tomatoes. About 9% of the dry weight of a tomato is supposed to be citric acid. About 4% of the dry weight of a tomato is supposed to be malic acid. I'm guessing those are figures for grocery store tomatoes.

It's great to hear that lots of people have actually done this without problems (but it would seem there's a possible risk).

[worth1]

I can't afford a copper kettle anyway.
Mind you at that time they didn't have the stuff we had today.
Stainless was unheard of and cast iron was king but heaven forbid leaving acidic food in it.
Forget aluminum because it was expensive then.
Then there was the enameled steel which was just coming of age.
More common pottery.
Obviously the person that wrote this book had money.
Just observations and probably totally wrong.

[karstopography]

I love copper, but don’t have a copper pot. I do have a copper spatula that I got cheap.

I hammered copper sheet to my BGE table during Covid. That wasn’t cheap, but I sure enjoyed it. I love how the elements and whatnot react with the copper to change the patina.

Copper is vital to human health. Too little in your diet, you will suffer a host of potential deadly health issues. Too much, the same. Too much copper in the diet these days is reportedly very rare, probably thanks to the rare use of copper pots. Too little copper in the diet might be more of an issue. We all tend to eat too clean and processed.