Tomatoes

In 1518, Cortez discovered a small, tart, red, Mexican fruit - cousin of the deadly nightshade - that was to change the culinary history of the world. At first, the “tornati”, as it was called by the Aztecs, met with little favour in Spain. It was considered too tart as a fruit to be anything more than a herbal curiosity. Then an adventurous chef at the Spanish court tried combining it with onions, oil, vinegar and pepper, and created the world’s most popular sauce.