Story: Growing Tomatoes
Episode: 9
Presenter: Neville Passmore
Air Date: 30th September 2023

Neville’s passion for food straight from the garden can’t be contained as he goes all in on the humble tomato.

• One of the most consumed fruits on earth today is the tomato. The Spanish conquistadoe Cortes delivered the seeds to Europe soon after conquering what we now know as Mexico city in 1521.
• When tomatoes were first introduced to Europe in the 16th Century, they were small, golden and cherry sized. This appearance gave them the name ‘golden apples’. Many European countries took this as inspiration and named them with gold names, such as the German ‘goldapfel’. The French were also convinced tomatoes were aphrodisiacs and named them “love apples.”
• Health benefits of eating tomatoes start from the tips of your toes and end here, were talking prostate health, gut, heart, skin and eyes.
• If you find that flowers are falling off and not forming fruits then you have a pollination problem. This is usually caused by weather being too hot or too humid. You can vibrate the flower trusses with say an electric toothbrush.