Websketching's Sam Serio interviews Salem County Freeholder Beth Timberman at the Woodstown Farmers' Market as she recreates the historic eating of the "poisonous" New Jersey tomato to prove it safe (and delicious). Tomato courtesy of A.T Buzby Farms.
"Salem County has a unique history about tomatoes," said Timberman, "It was in the 1800's that Robert Gibbons Johnson in Salem City proved that the tomato was not a poisonous fruit. Up until then, people considered this a poisonous fruit and no one would eat it. He took the tomato and stood on the courthouse steps... and he ate the tomato in front of the astonished citizens - and he did not fall down dead...and that is what made New Jersey tomatoes famous and of course the most delicious."
Also, Beth's daughter Natalie demonstrates the "proper eating" of a raw tomato.
