They feared that because people were being poisoned. Pewter plates were common at the time and the tomatoes acid leached the lead out causing acute lead poisoning!
Even the “sweet” tomatoes have pretty close to the same pH, it’s just the sugars covering the tang, like soda or honey.
As a bitter taster it doesn’t matter how much sugar you put on the tomato it’s still too much. About the only thing IMO that you can put on a tomato to make it acceptable is a bacon cheeseburger.
Then any other equally acidic food on pewter plates should have caused lead poisoning too? E.g. if they ate salads in those days, with a squeeze of lemon juice?
hinkley|4 years ago
As a bitter taster it doesn’t matter how much sugar you put on the tomato it’s still too much. About the only thing IMO that you can put on a tomato to make it acceptable is a bacon cheeseburger.
vram22|4 years ago