Souper Tomatoes

If you like reading about domestic history, you'll like this book, even if you don't care about tomatoes or tomato soup. Well researched, well written, it's clear the author had a good, if exhausitve time writing it. Writing about wars and battles is all very well, but to me, this gives more insight about American history than any thing I've read in a long time.

Smith's Souper Tomatoes is exactly what you would expect: 178 pp (+ references and index) on every aspect of the history of tomatoes and soup. Chapters cover the origin of soups, the origins of tomatoes, the tomato canning industry, the tomato soup industry and finally a collection of historical recipes. The tomato originated in South America and was brought to Europe in the 16th century. New Jersey proved to have the ideal climate and was the early center of the industry. Tomato canning began about the time of the Civil War. Initially most work was done by hand, but processing and canning were mechanized by turn of the century. California displaced NJ as the leader in tomato growing owing to a longer growing season and larger fields better suited to mechanical harvesting. Major efforts were made over the years to develop new tomato strains, especially the Rutgers tomato, and later California strains. Initially all tomato products were produced and canned whenever the crop was ripe. Today ripe tomatoes are processed to juice concentrate. Soup, juice and related tomato products are made from concentrate all year round. The various processes are described in detail, but are not overly technical. More illustrations would have been helpful.Souper Tomatoes is Smith's third book on the subject. Earlier ones include The Tomato in America, 1994 and Pure Ketchup, 1996.For those who really want to know about this esoteric subject, Souper Tomatoes is a great read.