TOMATOES, TOMATES, OR POMODOR

Summer. A friend gave me a paper bag full of her garden-grown tomatoes. I bent down into the bag for a whiff of the luscious vegetable-fruit. Most of us, including nutritionists, call tomatoes a vegetable because we use them in savory dishes, but a tomato is actually a fruit. A fruit is a ripened ovary containing seeds (more than you want to know?) so tomatoes fit into the fruit category, but most of us use tomatoes in sauces, casseroles, or on top of pizza dough, not in cookies or cakes.

Another friend has an abundance of figs this time of year, and, if we are lucky to see each other when she is overloaded with figs, I come away with a bag from her.  What a luscious treat to bite into a ripe fig.

Friends of Calligraphy, the calligraphy guild I belong to, (and yes, they still refer themselves as a guild which is a name associated with the Middle Ages and the businesses that proliferated then) last summer produced a cookbook for their 50th Anniversary. Inside, are recipes from members with illustrations of ingredients. Tomato recipes include Baked Feta Pasta, Marinara Sauce, and Mostaccioli.

We used to call this period in history the Dark Ages; but in fact, the Middle Ages were a busy time for crafts and trades to develop. Silversmiths, merchants, leatherworkers, religious orders, and others banded together into separate guilds to protect their crafts or business or beliefs. The Middle Ages became one of my favorite periods in history because of the ambiguity between the name the Dark Ages and historical reality. The Middle Ages gave rise not only to guilds but to universities and the development of capitalism, making way for the Renaissance. 

I am writing something here far removed from recipes for tomatoes and figs, but these two fruits also have interesting histories. Tomatoes, since they are part of the nightshade family, were considered poisonous by some people. Figs, one of the first fruits to be cultivated, came to represent abundance, peace, and femininity, and were often consumed for strength development, and just because they are delicious. Depictions of figs and fig trees appear in the art found in Ancient Egypt, are referenced in the Bible as politely covering Adam and Eve, in the Quran, which identifies the fig as one of the fruits of paradise, and in California, missionaries planted fig trees at each mission along the coastal boundaries --one of the few good projects they accomplished. (Remember how we all used to spend fourth grade learning about the missions, while ignoring the treatment of the indegenous people caught in their system?) Figs are easy to grow and continue to flourish in the California climate.

Easy recipes for summer:

For using an abundance of tomatoes:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees

Brush tomatoes with oil. Shake on salt and pepper.

Place on greased broiler pan. Add other vegetables such as broccoli florets or brussel sprouts.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes till vegetables are charred.

Easy recipe for figs:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread oil on a baking pan.

Cut a cross in each fig.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Place a dollop of Blue or Feta Cheese in center.

Bake till cheese melts. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

What are your favorite summer recipes for using home-grown produce? Don't forget peaches.

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Check out the Friends of Calligraphy website where you can find a copy of the cookbook. Please consider a donation to FOC for their efforts to encourage the practice of calligraphy:

https://www.friendsofcalligraphy.org/pages/history.html

Tomatoes, Tomates, and Pomidor information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

Best information about the history of figs:

https://www.hammersleyinletfarm.com/from-eden-to-empire-the-cultural-and-historical-journey-of-figs/