When you look at how many world cuisines that celebrate the tomato it’s hard to believe there was a time when tomatoes only existed in Meso-America.

The name tomato comes from the Meso-American word xitomatl. Although most Spanish-speaking countries call them ‘tomates‘, in Mexico they call them jitomates based on the indigenous name.
Brown tomatoes in a market went into a special Spanish salad just for me (Santiago de Compostela, Spain).
Bags of green tomatoes on a boat on Inle Lake, Myanmar.Cherry tomatoes at the Portland Farmer’s Market, Oregon.
Sculpted tomato for our Halong Bay lunch, Vietnam. Indian fried daal with tomato. Having Tomates aux Crevettes Grises at De Panne, Belgium.

Salsa Martajada de Mexico

This red salsa is ‘crushed’ with a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle called a molcajete, made from volcanic rock. This method results in a coarse salsa, as opposed to the puree you might get from using a blender.

• In our class we lightly charred jitomates, chopped onion, garlic and a few jalapeños in a hot dry pan, and then ground them in a molcajete, a traditional Meso-American mortar and pestle made from coarse volcanic rock.
• ‘salsa martajada‘: ground jalapeño and tomato salsa, for dipping your molotes in.
• More on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Two Ts in the Word.
• More on Travelling in Mexico and its Cuisine.