Tomatillo

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Tomatillo
Fresh harvest of tomatillos
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Physalis
Species: P. philadelphica
Binomial name
Physalis philadelphica
Lam. (1786)
Synonyms

Physalis ixocarpa Brot.

The tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica) is a plant of the nightshade family, related to the Cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos originated in Mexico,[1] and are a staple of that country's cuisine. They are grown as annuals throughout the Western Hemisphere. Tomatillos are frequently eaten fried, boiled, or steamed. The leaves are also used to treat urinary tract infections.

Description

The tomatillo fruit is surrounded by an inedible, paper-like husk formed from the calyx. As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be several colors when ripe, including yellow, red, green, or even purple. Tomatillos are the key ingredient in fresh and cooked Mexican and Central American green sauces. The freshness and greenness of the husk are quality criteria. Fruit should be firm and bright green, as the green color and tart flavor are the main culinary contributions of the fruit. Purple- and red-ripening cultivars often have a slight sweetness, unlike the green- and yellow-ripening cultivars, so are somewhat more suitable for fruit-like uses like jams and preserves. Like their close relatives, Cape gooseberries, tomatillos have a high pectin content. They also tend to have a varying degree of a sappy, sticky coating, mostly when used on the green side out of the husk.

Tomatillo plants are highly self-incompatible, and two or more plants are needed for proper pollination. Thus, isolated tomatillo plants rarely set fruit.[2] Ripe tomatillos will keep refrigerated for about two weeks. They will keep even longer if the husks are removed and the fruits are placed in sealed plastic bags stored in the refrigerator.[3] They may also be frozen whole or sliced.

Names

The tomatillo is also known as the husk tomato, jamberry, husk cherry, or Mexican tomato, but the latter is more appropriately used to describe a relative which bears smaller fruit. These names can also refer to other species in the Physalis genus. In Spanish, it is called tomate de cáscara, tomate de fresadilla, tomate milpero, tomate verde (green tomato), and tomatillo (Mexico; this term means "little tomato" elsewhere), miltomate (Mexico, Guatemala), or simply tomate (in which case the tomato is called jitomate). Even though tomatillos are sometimes called "green tomatoes", they should not be confused with green, unripe tomatoes (tomatoes are in the same family, but a different genus).

The original name for tomatillo is tomate (in Nahuatl: tomātl, than means 'fat water' or 'fat thing').[4][5][6][7][8][9] When Aztecs started to cultivate a similar fruit, but bigger and red, they called the new species jitomate ('fat water with navel' or 'fat thing with navel'). After their conquest of Tenochtitlan, Spaniards exported tomatoes (jitomates) to the rest of the world with the name tomate, so internationally the world uses the word "tomato" (tomate) to refer to the red tomato instead of the green one. Only in the center of Mexico do people still use the word tomate to refer to a tomatillo.[citation needed]

Image gallery

See also

References

  1. Tomatillo at Aggie Horticulture archive
  2. Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong, ed. (2008). Self-Incompatibility in Flowering Plants: Evolution, Diversity and Mechanisms. Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-68485-5. 
  3. Carter, Noelle; Deane, Donna (2008-05-14). "Tomatillo: a green sourpuss with a sweet side". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times). Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
  4. [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso?&dowhat=FindJustOne&theRecID=1598855&theWord=xitomatl. xitomatl - Nahuatl Dictionary]
  5. [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso?&dowhat=FindJustOne&theRecID=1598178&theWord=tomatl. tomatl - Nahuatl Dictionary]
  6. [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso?&dowhat=FindJustOne&theRecID=1593300&theWord=atl. atl - Nahuatl Dictionary]
  7. [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso?&dowhat=FindJustOne&theRecID=1597935&theWord=tomahuac. tomahuac - Nahuatl Dictionary]
  8. [http://whp.uoregon.edu/dictionaries/nahuatl/index.lasso?&dowhat=FindJustOne&theRecID=1616328&theWord=toma. toma - Nahuatl Dictionary]
  9. water :: atl - English to Nahuatl Glossary

External links

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