Tomatoes were considered poisonous in much of Europe for nearly two centuries after they were introduced from the Americas — not because of anything dangerous in the fruit itself, but because the plant belongs to the same botanical family as deadly nightshade, with leaves and stems that really do contain toxic alkaloids, and the misunderstanding kept the fruit out of European cuisine until the late 1700s

The tomato is generally believed to have arrived in Europe in the early 16th century, brought by Spanish explorers — most likely Hernán Cortés after the conquest of Tenochtitlán in 1521. For the next two and a half centuries, Europeans grew the plant in their gardens and refused to eat it. Tomatoes appeared in herbals, [...] The post Tomatoes were considered poisonous in much of Europe for nearly two centuries after they were introduced from the Americas — not because of anything dangerous in