The time has come to uncork those jars and taste the "red gold.” What are we talking about? Of the ch'nzerve (a huge pantry that contains bottles of sauce) of tomatoes. Readers from Puglia will immediately recall that yummy memory: the ritual of homemade sauce. Let's find out about its origin. For once, this old Apulian tradition does not find its roots in the ancient Greek and Roman agricultural rituals. 

Tomatoes are native to western South America, and were introduced into Europe by the Spanish after the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortés and his crew. Among Cortés’ followers there was also the soldier Fra Bernardino who listed in one of his accounts all the tomato species the Indians used to exchange in seasonal markets.