Abruzzo Heritage a project by Abruzzo World Club

FEBRUARY 2002

JOURNAL OF THE ABRUZZO WORLD CLUB

Year III No. 14

The Discovery of Tomato Sauce Fare clic qui per la versione italiana Originally known as a love remedy, the tomato sauce was to replace the pepper preserve, giving rise to an infinity of dishes among them the celebrated the Neapolitan pizza. The first sauce was born on a summer night, which was meant to be a night of love. Vexed for the continuous refusals of a maid, the young d'Avalos marquis picked three pommes d'amour from the garden, crushed and mixed them with the leftovers of the onions and herbs lightly fried in oil. The gluttonous maid ate the dish. The youth then seized her, thinking he would find no resistance whatsoever. Alas, he received a blow with a frying pan on his head. While he was rising back on his feet, completely stunned, the maid was safe in her room. He was desolate. Staring at the leftover on the table, he tasted a bit. In an instant he devoured it all. That mysterious flavors had conquered him. The next day he ordered his cook to serve him a sauce with pommes d'amour. Whether the story of the noble Avalos is true, it is difficult to say. But it is a fact that the "pummarole" slowly lost the evidently undeserved fame of love remedy, but acquired throughout the 18th century a new notoriety. A new sauce had been discovered, that replaced the pepper preserve and that could be joined to an infinity of dishes, enriching and even exalting their taste. By then the cultivation of tomatoes was no more limited to gardens and orchards, but extended to the countryside, especially in the Vesuvian area. Farmers discovered that the pummarole cultivation was easy, inexpensive, and could become profitable. Finally in 1839 the duke of Buonvicino paved the road, inventing the match between the pasta - above all the macaroni - and the tomato sauce.

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