Product Description

A definitive history of tomato soup. The author explores the prehistoric origins of soup and traces its development in the 19th century, focusing on the canning industry and the complex distribution and advertising network. Condensed soups are described and the work ends with over 100 recipes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2359117 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 236 pages

From Library Journal
Was Robert Gibbon Johnson the first person in America to eat a tomato? That's the question that originally started culinary historian Smith (The New School) on his research journey into the meaning and history of the tomato. Following up on his Pure Ketchup and The Tomato in America, his latest work uses tomato soup as a lens through which to consider the histories of not only tomatoes but also soup and canning. The result is a very interesting, readable set of essays (which are, however, only loosely connected) on topics ranging from the development of various strains of tomato plants to the contributions of Andy Warhol to the art world. Smith includes numerous notes and sources for each chapter, as well as a representative sample of historical recipes. For libraries with a particular interest in food or agriculture.AMary Martin, New Hampshire State Lib., Manchester
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Andrew Smith has squeezed out of New Jersey every last drop of tomato lore and history to fashion a readable tale that is as refreshing to read as a cold Bloody Mary on a hot summer day. This book will forever establish New Jersey, not as the Garden State but at the Tomato State." - Joseph M. Carlin, Food Heritage Press. -- Joseph M. Carlin, Food Heritage Press

From the Publisher
An Interview with the author:

Q: You've written three books concerning tomatoes: Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery, Pure Ketchup: The History of America's National Condiment, and now Souper Tomatoes: The Story of America's Favorite Food. What sparked such an interest in this particular food?

A: Of course, I love eating tomatoes and my family has grown them for years, but my initial interest in writing about them stemmed from an academic pursuit. While researching the history of food, I found that no one had written a history of the tomato. When I started poking around into articles that mentioned "historical" events connected with the tomato, I discovered that almost everything presented as history was inaccurate or misleading. The more real historical material I unearthed, the more I found that the tomato's real history was a great story, much more fascinating than the oft-repeated inaccurate stories regurgitated in magazines and newspapers. Anyway, to make a long story short, I fell in love with tomato history!

Q: What inspired you to write a book specifically on tomato soup?

A: Like Andy Warhol, my mother served me tomato soup when I was young. I liked it then, and I still like it now. I only write about things I like, so writing a book about tomato soup was a natural. Of course, I felt obligated to taste as many tomato soup recipes as possible - it's required research you understand - so I've had a wonderful time writing the book.

Q: Many people believe that the first person to eat a tomato in America was Robert Gibbon Johnson. Legend has it that he stood before a crowd on the courthouse steps in Salem, N.J. on September 26, 1820 and ate the first tomato in America, proving that it wasn't poisonous. You say this story is false. What's the true story behind this legend?

A: Robert Gibbon Johnson was a prominent leader in Salem and New Jersey during the first half of the 19th century. He was interested in agriculture and promoted agricultural innovation and the introduction of new crops. He probably did eat tomatoes, but there is no historical evidence proving that Johnson did so. The courthouse step story has been frequently repeated, but all the details of the story were made up in the 20th century.

Even if Johnson first ate a tomato in 1820, he would not have been the first to do so in America. Tomatoes were eaten probably since the late 17thcentury in the southern parts of what is today the United States. Some Americans in New England were eating tomatoes by 1800, although not everyone liked their taste.

Q: It was once thought that tomatoes were poisonous; now some scientists say they may help prevent cancer. Can you describe this evolution in scientific thinking?

A: Read any article about tomatoes and the author is likely to mention that Americans thought that the tomato was poisonous, which is why they didn't eat it before the mid-19th century. I have located 15,000 references to the tomato published or written before 1860. Only a handful of these references mention that the tomato has undesirable qualities; almost all of those references were reprinted material originally published in England. The vast majority of comments about the tomato indicate the opposite: the tomato was considered healthful and good to eat. Many physicians during the mid-1830s were convinced that tomato medicine cured almost every illness known to mankind. But not everyone liked tomatoes, and one physician after the Civil War reported that tomatoes caused cancer. This charge was repeated periodically until the 1930s. Despite the fact that most physicians said this was bunk, many people were frightened of eating tomatoes.

Q: You write that Rutgers tomato seeds once produced 70 percent of the processed tomatoes in the United States. What made this tomato so popular? What type of tomato has replaced it and why?

A: The Rutgers tomato had many characteristics that were better than all the other commercial varieties. Compared with previous varieties, that Rutgers tomato dramatically increased yield, in some cases doubling total production for growers. The large-leafed plant protected its fruit from the hot sun, and therefore more fruit survived to be picked. Its fruit was scarlet red in color and ripened from the inside out. This meant that the grower could tell when to pick the fruit. Its juice was low in acidity and fine flavored. It was the ideal processing tomato.

The Rutgers tomato was phased out when the tomato industry moved to California, beginning in the 1950s. California's climate was better suited to for mechanical picking of tomatoes, which required different tomato varieties with different characteristics, and the Rutgers tomato was doomed.

Q: Who first made tomato soup commercially available?

A: In 1865 James H. W. Huckins applied for a U.S. patent for making "Improved Tomato Soup." His formula consisted of 50 pounds of beef-shin in 14 gallons of water for 14 hours. He added water from time to time as required. He skimmed off the fat and strained the broth from the meat through a fine sieve. This produced seven gallons of stock. To this he added one and a half bushels of mashed tomatoes, boiled for another one and one half-hours, and strained it to remove the seeds and the skins. In another boiler, Huckins combined finely chopped onions, turnips, carrots, and beets with three and a half pounds of butter. When the vegetables were cooked, flour, black pepper, and brown sugar were added to the beef and tomato stock. This mixture was boiled and strained. This formula produced 13 gallons of tomato soup.

Huckins believed that this composition had inherent preservative qualities preventing decomposition "for a great length of time." The Patent Office thought this was so good that they issued a patent on the recipe a few weeks after they received the application. Sometime after this date, Huckins began canning his soup, making him the first known soup canner. He first launched advertised his canned tomato soup in 1876. As Huckins's soups were extremely successful, other canners entered the field, including the Campbell Soup Company.

Q: How much tomato soup is sold annually in the United States? What company sells the most tomato soup?

A: Campbell's sells 300 million cans of the tomato soup annually in the United States. This doesn't include all the other soups with tomatoes as ingredients.

Q: When did Campbell's introduce their famous tomato soup? Who created the recipe? Was it an instant success? Has it changed at all over the years? Why do you think it became and has remained so popular?

A: American-born John T. Dorrance received his doctorate in Germany. When he returned to the United States, he had a number of job offers to teach at universities. At the invitation of his uncle, Dorrance went to work at the Joseph Campbell Company located in Camden. N.J. Within a few months of his arrival at Campbell's in 1897, Dorrance had produced condensed tomato soup. The exact Campbell's tomato soup recipe remains a proprietary secret; however, they report few changes in the recipe over the years.

Condensed tomato soup had several advantages over the competition. As water had been removed, the can was smaller, resulting in less manufacturing costs, reduced freight bills and less costly labels. Smaller cans also required less space to display in grocery stores and occupied less cupboard space in the home. The company supported these obvious advantages by charging less than the competition, and making a larger profit by mass sales. These sales were generated by an excellent promotion campaign and a national marketing system. Tomato soup remained the largest selling soup for years because the cost of tomatoes was extremely low compared with the ingredients of other soups, and because of a major marketing campaign by Campbell's. In addition, tomato soup tastes great!

Q: In Souper Tomatoes, you tell readers that chicken soup is now Campbell's best-selling soup. When did its sales surpass that of tomato soup? Why do you think this happened?

A: If you include all the various soups with tomatoes in them, tomato soups still are number one in the soup world. Until the 1980s tomato soup was the number one selling soup in America. Then someone wrote some books with the words "chicken soup" in the title and chicken soup sales went off the chart. I hope Souper Tomatoes will redress this error and put tomato soup back in the number one spot where it rightfully belongs.

Q: What's the most interesting or surprising thing you learned in doing the research for Souper Tomatoes?

A: While writing the book, I felt obligated to sample as many tomato soups as possible. So I restaurant hopped ordering only tomato soup in each one I visited. My record was nine tomato soups consumed in one day. Some waiters looked at me strangely until I told them I was writing a book on tomato soup. Then, their attitude changed and the owner or the chef would soon visit my table to confide their secrets ingredients that made their tomato soup so special. Usually, their secret ingredients weren't so unusual and I often found their tomato soup recipes mundane. But I did gain 25 pounds while writing the book, so maybe they weren't so bad after all. It was worth it.

Q: Why did you decide to include recipes for tomato soup in your book? Which one is your favorite?

A: While I enjoyed the modern tomato soup recipes, I really appreciated the diversity of the historical recipes. I've tried most of the recipes and hope readers and chefs will enjoy the ones I selected for this book. For the simple tomato soup recipe, I like Ida Bailey Allen's "Clear Tomato Soup." I love all the additions to tomato soup which rarely appear in restaurants today, such as Good Housekeeping's "Crab and Tomato Bisque." If you want to try something a bit unusual try Judith Montefiore's "Dry Tomato Soup." Of course, I love bouillabaisse, gazpacho, chowder, and gumbo in almost any way, but particularly Charles Ranhofer's "Bouillabaisse," Table Talk's "Tomato Soup a L'andalouse," Pierre Blot's "Chowder," and Mrs. Rorer's "Chicken Gumbo with Oysters."

Fast Facts From
Souper Tomatoes: The Store of America's Favorite Food
by Andrew F. Smith

-Tomatoes originated along the coastal highlands of western South America. How and when tomatoes were introduced to the United States is still a matter of debate.
-Tomatoes were grown and eaten in what is today the United States nearly two centuries before they became popular throughout Italy.
-The first known American cooking pamphlet focusing solely on soups, Soups and Soup Making, was written by Emma Ewing in 1882. The first known tomato recipe published in a cookbook appeared in Lo scalco alla moderna in Naples in 1692. The first located recipes calling for tomatoes in soups were published in Mary Randolph's Virginia Housewife in 1824. She also published the first known recipe for gazpacho.
-Robert Gibbon Johnson did not eat the first tomato in America while standing on the courthouse steps in Salem, N.J. to prove the fruit was not poisonous. The story is simply a colorful local legend.
-Rutgers tomato seeds once produced 70 percent of the processed tomatoes in the United States.
-The first tomatoes were canned in Jamesburg, N.J. in 1847.
-The first known commercial tomato soup was created by James H. W. Huckins of Boston, who began canning soup in about 1858. His "Improved Tomato Soup" received a U.S. patent.
-The Campbell Soup Company, headquartered in Camden, N.J., is the world's largest soup manufacturer. Their main tomato processing operations are now located in California. Seventy to 80 percent of processing tomatoes used by the company come from 60 contract growers who reside within a 150-mile radius of the tomato processing plants in Stockton and Dixon, Calif. From each ton of fresh tomatoes received into the processing plant, 12,000 cans of tomato soup are produced.
-Tomato soup is the fifth-largest selling dry good in America.
-Condensed tomato soup, as it first appeared in a Campbell's can with an orange-and-black label, was first produced late in 1897. The famous red-and-white color combination on Campbell's soup cans was based on a suggestion by Herberton Williams, the company's future treasurer. At Thanksgiving of 1897 he attended a Cornell-University of Pennsylvania football game. The new red-and-white Cornell uniforms caught Williams's eye. After the game he suggested these colors for a new Campbell's label. The change was made in January 1898.
-Initially, Campbell's soup sold for 10 cents a can. The company made less than a quarter of a cent profit on each can.
-The Joseph P. Campbell Preserve Company published the first tomato soup booklets in 1914. It described how tomato soup was manufactured and offered 12 recipes for using Campbell's tomato soup to make dishes such as sauces for spaghetti, oysters, clams, fish, chicken, turkey, asparagus, and artichokes.
-Chicken soup has deposed tomato as Campbell's best-selling soup.
-Andy Warhol's mother served him tomato soup for lunch for 20 years which was why he painted tomato soup cans.
-Some people once thought the tomato caused cancer, but today many scientists believe that eating tomatoes prevents certain types of cancer.

Customer Reviews

All about tomatoes and soup
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.

Souper Fun
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.