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Welcome to Celtnet's Tamarillo Recipes Page — The Tamarillo (also known as the 'Tree Tomato' is, natively, a South American fruit that's used both as a fruit in sweet dishes and as a vegetable in savoury dishes, particularly in the preparation of stews. It is a shrubby tree that can grow up to 6m in height and which can tolerate fairly poor salts and is very productive when fruiting (a single bush can, over its six-month fruiting period) more than keep an ordinary family supplied with fruit.
Here you will find information about the tamarillo plant and the uses of it's fruit, as well as seeing the web's largest collection of tamarillo-based recipes. |
Tamarillo (also known as tree tomato, or tomate de árbol and Dutch eggplant) is the fruit of Solanum betaceum, a member of the Solanaceae (Deadly Nightshade) family of flowering plants (which also includes potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums and aubergines).
Solanum betaceum is a small tree or perennial shrub growing, maximally, to some 6m in height. The leaves are heart-shaped at the base and pointed at the apex and are muskily odorous. These are alternate and fairly large (10-35cm long and 1-10cm wide) and grow along the length of the brown, woody, adult branches and stems of the plant.
The fragrant inflorescences of the plant are borne in small, loose clusters near the branch tips during late summer or early autumn, typically 3-12 flowers in single inflorescences. Once fertilized these develop into the fruit (one per inflorescence) which are egg-shaped and can grow up to 8cm in length and 3cm in diameter and have yellow or red skins with a waxy, bitter, exocarp and may have faint dark longitudinal strips. The flesh is a pale orange, succulent and with a flavour reminiscent of a blend of kiwifruit, tomato and/or passion fruit. The cross-section of the fruit looks vaguely like a tomato (hence the common name of tree tomato) and the skin is markedly bitter but sweetens upon cooking (typically the flesh is scooped from the skin with a spoon prior to eating.
Solanum betaceum it is native of the Andes of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia (though it is cultivated in cultivated in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia (where it is known as terong Belanda or 'Dutch eggplant'), Kenya, Portugal, the United States, New Zealand and Venezuela). In Portugal and New Zealand it is grown as a commercial crop. Recently there has been mention of this plant as a superfood in the UK press and is now available in the UK as both seed and mature plants (it requires two years' growth before fruiting). It is not hardy and thus is recommended to be grown in pots in Northern Climes so that it can be brought indoors over winter (but it will tolerate a temperature drop of down to 6°C over winter as long as the pot is kept fairly dry).
I originally bought a plant to seek a replacement for the Bitter Tomato (a close relative) that my wife used in her native Liberian recipes. However, the tamarillo is much more versatile than this and can be used anywhere you would use bitter tomatoes, ordinary tomatoes or even plums in recipes. It makes excellent drinks, preserves catsups and desserts and you can see a whole range of recipes in my tamarillo recipe collection.
Alphabetical list of tamarillo-based recipes follow (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 108 recipes in total:
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Recipe Information: 115
In many cultures, serving tea is an artform. Learn more about tea.
Recipe Information: 114
Home cooking is slowly developing into an outdated concept as men and women are just too occupied to worry about preparing their own meals.
Recipe Information: 115
With Autumn approaching, the mind naturally turns to how best to preserve the season's glut of fruit for the coming winter. One of the best preservation methods is to turn the fruit into jams and jellies, which will last you through the winter and well into the following spring. Here you will learn the secrets of making perfect jams and jellies with grape jam being used as an example.
Recipe Information: 56
Chocolate is a spice processed from the seeds of the cocao tree. It was first used and cultivated almost 3000 years ago and is a mainstay of modern snacks and sweet dishes. But chocolate is a much more versatile ingredient than this and can be used in a whloe range of sweet and savoury dishes. Here you will find recipes for a classic chocolate cake as well as a Mexican stew with chocolate.
Recipe Information: 35
When you examine the history of drinks, what you see is the attempt by human civilizations to render drinking water safe. This article gives an introduction to the ways various civilizations have chosen to make water safe to drink as well as providing two recipes for a fruit juice drink and a spice infusion of lemongrass.
Recipe Information: 35
The traditional recipes of Wales are what might be thought of as 'peasant food' the kind of recipes made by the poor who want to make the most out of what little food they had. This, in some respects, has left Wales with a blank culinary slate where some very exciting modern foods, bringing together influences from all over the world have been created. Here I give an example of a traditional Welsh dish and an example of a recipe from the new breed of Welsh cookery...
Recipe Information: 56
Chocolate is perhaps the most indulgent ingredient to emerge from the Americas. It was once considered a royal drink and prepared especially for the ruling elite. Chocolate itself is made from the cocoa bean and as such is actually, technically, a spice. It's hardly surprising that this magical substance has inspired a host of memorable quotations...
Recipe Information: 113
Chocolate brownies are the ‘anytime treat’ of the US. Regardless of the occasion from the 4th July to Christmas Brownies are a favourite snack time desert.
Recipe Information: 114
Keurig makes quality coffee products. Read about their coffee makers and k cups here.
Recipe Information: 35
British cookery is often seen as a joke, yet with the range of available fresh ingredients British desserts are some of the most divine and inspiring in the world. Here I present two classic desserts: one modern and one traditional for your enjoyment.
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