The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

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The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« on: 05 March 2010, 18:18:55 »

THE MITHRIL TOMATO (Terran: Cherry Tomato x Ground Cherry)

AKA: Mithato, Mithribel, Tom's Mithato, Lantern Tomato, or the Silver Lythbel, depending upon region

Categorization: Edible Plant, Wild Plant, Vegetable, Herb, Reagent

Basic Overview of the Plant:

The Mithato, as it is frequently nicknamed, is a common wild vegetable which seems to be related to the Lyth'bel; round, scarlet when fully ripe, and more sharply aceedic in taste, it provides a bright and pungent accent to salats, makes wonderful rich sauces and condiments, can be eaten out of hand with a sprinkle of sea-salt to bring out the flavor, and seems to have medicinal value as well. It grows on sprawling multi-branched 'stalks' and is protected by silvery 'cases' resembling miniature lanterns formed from parchment. Cultivated and bred to its tame state most famously by a Marcoggian-area nobleman's jester-cum-gardener who went by the soubriquet of 'Scarlet Tom', it is better known in cities and market gardens as the 'Tomato', or 'Tom's Mithato'.

Description:

In the wild state this plant rarely reaches more than a handspan or so high. Usually it may be found sprawling over and crawling across other plants with its weak stalks, almost more like vines – short, many-branching, and fuzzy. The length may range from a fore or so to nearly a ped, though wild varieties tend to be on the shorter side and tame ones longer. The plant is generally a uniform greyish-green hue with grain-length silvery hairs along its vines and the bottom of its multi-lobed, irregular leaves. When cultivated, it is usually draped over long branches laid over the ground, supported on a network of twigs, staked up with forked sticks, or in more prosperous holdings, tied to trellises or tall cones made of long staves and grapevines – anything to keep its produce off the earth and exposed to the sun more freely.

It flowers early in the year, as soon as frost is out of the ground, or in warmer climes, twice or thrice in four seasons. Small, inconspicuous silver-grey flowers form on finger-length thin stalks along the length of the vines; no matter how the plant tangles itself along the ground or its supports, these slimmer stalks always face upwards towards Injera's rays, helping the fruit to soak in the warmth and energy it emits. These little flowers rapidly turn into small silvery nodules, each only about the size of an Onn bean, encased in silver parchment-like 'cases', or husks, shaped like paper lanterns.

The case grows along with the vegetable, which moves through several colour stages, and eventually splits open to reveal the tomato at its orange stage, after which the sun swiftly ripens it to its finished bright red. In its initial incarnation as a little silver nodule, it is inedible, at least by any of the sentient races, most of whom will react with indigestion, belly-gripes, or flux. It has been observed that even the wild birds, who love it at later stages, will not touch the vegetable when it is still mithril-hued. The small green fruit, about the size of a man's thumbnail, is quite sweet - almost cloyingly so - rather like young garden pease, but as it ripens, it becomes increasingly more aceedic and tangy. Yellow can range from thumbnail to goldbard size, and has a pleasant tinge almost of citraure, while the orange has almost reached its mature size, filling the palm of a human hand as comfortably as a child's ball, and has attained the first stages of its uniquely pungent and aromatic flavour.

The bright red and richly tangy Mithato in its full glory is a wonderful thing, savoury, stimulating, and refreshing, all at once. We quote Hubert the Lorehaven chef-hobbit on Mithatoes as follows:

“Aye, the tomato! A glorious expression of Injera's light, made solid in glowing gorgeous flesh – as plump as a hobbitlass's cheeks, as ruddy as her lips, as delectable as.... er, the tomato is indeed a marvelous thing, versatile and delicious and, er, very very tasty!”

When picked at the peak of ripeness, the vegetable resembles a slightly flattened sphere, indented irregularly around the stem area in soft subtle bulges that do indeed call to mind the natural curves of anatomy. The short stem by which it was plucked from the plant juts jauntily from a little 'cap' of irregular mithril leaflets, sunk into the top's indentation. It fits sensually into the hand, its thin scarlet skin indenting easily to the slightest pressure, juicy 'tomato flesh' beneath. It must be cut with the sharpest of kitchen knives, or it merely splits apart, soft flesh, juice, and miniature seeds (tiny, soft, edible) spilling out. When sliced carefully, it resembles a walnut or other patterned nut in its interesting, segmented cross-section – the thick 'walls' of the internal divisions are the meat of the Mithato, containing a thick liquid, nearly jelly-like, which in its turn hold the tiny, flat, silvery seeds. The vegetable can also be juiced, pulped, cooked whole, rendered for sauces, and so on – see Usages, below.

Different receipts specify at what stage of ripeness the Mithato must be harvested to produce the effect desired, and slowly over the years of its cultivation as a garden vegetable a more-or-less consistent body of terms have arisen to describe the plant and its fruit.

Cases: 'husks' or 'lanterns'
Stalks and leaves – 'mithato vines'
Silver stage: 'mithato-babe', 'mithrilanato' (this stage is inedible)
Green stage: 'emeraud mithato', usually shortened to 'emerato' in chefs' jargon
Yellow stage: ' injeran mithato', often 'injerato', rarely 'golden mithato'
Orange stage: 'ember mithato', sometimes merely 'ember-ripe' or 'embers'
Red stage: 'scarlet tom's mithato', 'tom's mithato', or simply 'tomato'
Overripe: 'splitter', 'pulp mithato', 'seeder mithato', and, rather preciously, 'volcanato'

Naturally, the smaller the fruit, the younger it must be harvested, the more work it involves (peeling, in the case of the emeratoes and injeratoes, for example, while the scarlet tomato verily drops into one's hand when ready), and the more must go into making up a certain weight – hence in general the earlier stages are more expensive in the average market than the later, more mature tomatoes. However, if the vegetable is offered at any stage out of its natural season (such as full-ripe tom's mithatoes early in the spring, which have been forced in a greenhouse during the winter, or from vines which were planted in summer to give emerauds in fall) it is of course considered premium and the prices reflect such desirability. The Mithato travels well at younger stages, and once off the vine will continue to ripen to a certain extent as long as it is exposed to Injera's influence, though the flavours are never quite as rich as when picked at their preferred peak. Hence you will hear many connoisseurs claim that the tomato is at its absolute best when taken from the vine and served fresh the same hour, preferably with the sun's warmth still held in its flesh. The noted gourmet Duke Pelenni Margulf (ruler of the duchy of that same name) actually demands that his mithatoes be served ON the vine; in fact, refining it to such a degree of luxuriousness that he has been known to serve his guests with individually-potted Mithato plants, scattering the containers along the table with their stems draping between the trenchers and platters, so that guests can pluck their own fruit as desired!

Territory:

Territory:

The Mithato is a close relative of the Lythebel, and therefore can be found in most places where that latter plant flourishes. It grows well through most of temperate Sarvonia, though best in warmer climes. It prefers a lot of sunlight to ripen at its richest flavour and colour. Although it dislikes irregular watering, (a steady drip is used where the plant is cultivated, and the Greenhouses of the Compendium have produced spectacular specimens by experimenting with various additions to the water drip) it is prone to cracking, splitting, black rot and stem rot in too-damp climates.

The plant stems are actually vines and so always require support. It will grow sprawling on the flat or over low hillocks quite readily, but is at its best in the wild when draped over hedges, thorns, windrows, and the like. When cultivated, it should be raised from the ground on trellises of twigs or cut bushes ranged along the ground. This allows the access of air and light on all sides of the fruit, and prevents rotting and uneven colouration.

It is believed to exist in the wild as far north as Astran (just below the Tandala Highlands), and to the south can be seen thriving in Bardavos, hanging lushly over balconies and terraces there along with the decorative flowers and greenery. It does best in the Temperate, Balmy, and Brightland climates, though coastal areas tend to be too damp. It can be grown in the Tropical zone though the fruits tend to be smaller and more concentrated of flavour. Oddly, in the peninsula of Zaramon there is an interesting variant of the Mithato which is consistently small; though it goes through all the colour changes as it ripens, it never enlarges much past its budding stage, ranging from the size of an onn through to a child's marble. These variants make beautiful garnishes, scattered like little rubites and garnets across a platter of cold meats, and are prized in the New Santhalan markets.
And finally we should note that there is also a northern variant, which is smaller, tougher, and comes in a much thicker 'parchment' husk, finely haired both inside and out, rather like a milkweed pod; the soft hairs seemsto serve as a sort of 'fur coat' for the delicate red gem inside! It seems to be able to survive up to the permanent frost line, and can be found in the climate regions of the Northern Bleaks and Northern Wilds, but primarily in the Kanapan area. This hardy plant is known alternately as ‘Barbarian Mithato’, the ‘Kanamato’, and in the Kuglimz tongue, ‘Vlukath’ (from ‘Vla'wuk'alth’, or ‘armoured plant’).

Usages:

The vegetables are used, of course, in cooking: fresh, in salats, as garnishes, in soups/stews/sauces, etc. A variety of receipts exist to make full use of the Mithato at different ripenesses. As an emerato or injerato, it is sometimes added to fruit dishes, to give more colour and subtlety, or incorporated into sweets, while embers and tomatoes are generally preferred in savory receipts. The yellow and orange are often juiced – mixed with a bit of the more expensive kitrauhre or citron fruit, and some sweetener such as foridite, sweet-bean extract, or sweetsip nectar, they make a refreshing and delicious drink. Of course, any stage except the first, silver, can be eaten directly from the plant as a fresh vegetable – a source of wonderful energy, our alchemists and gardeners both agree. Master Hubert is not alone in his identification of the Mithato as a storehouse of Injeran rays!

The dried cases, or husks, burn very well and are often incorporated into the tinder supply for flint-and-tinder boxes. They are also considered excellent reagents for Fire - specifically Light - spells due to their lantern-like shape, their high inflammability, and the plant's close association with the sun. At least one paper-maker in Ximax, the famous company of 'Nib & Deckle', produces specialty sheets with Mithato husks incorporated into the other fibers, which is quite popular with the many Volrek-Oshra Fire Mages in the city.

Children enjoy picking the wild Mithato and eating the unripe, sweet nugget inside, then playing with the lantern husks. Girls tend to enjoy decorating miniature 'fairy houses' made from sticks and moss, or putting the toy lanterns into the hands of their home-made poppets and dolls. Boys sometimes seal the split through which they got the fruit with tree resin, then carefully fill up the resulting little 'pocket' of parchment with water, and hurl the missiles at each other or drop them on passerbys' heads when possible. Elven children coax fireflies into the larger husks to create actual natural miniature lanterns (with a stunningly lovely effect, glowing softly with a pale greenish light), then twine them into wreaths for their hair or bouquets to garnish tables and archways.

Younger stalks can be peeled or scraped of their hairs and chopped into a stew or sauce as filler. They have, when cooked, a less tangy but still aceedic, refreshing taste. The scraped stems are also used along with grapes and other produce to make vinaigre or 'soured wine' for cooking. We almost hesitate to mention here that children – and jealous rival courtesans – have also used the scraped hairs as an itching power to drop down each others’ backs or to sprinkle in certain pieces of apparel, but we are sure that our well-read compendiumists will have already encountered the recent gossip dealing with the competition between Ma’lady Marinia and the Marchioness of Ryethwain…

The fresh juice (whether pure or mixed) is considered both as a skin toner and purifier when used externally, and as an aphrodisiac when imbibed. It is held to lighten and brighten the skin, remove freckles and age spots, stimulate etherian desires, and encourage propagation.

Thergerim of the mountains love this little vegetable as it can be gathered for much of the year wild, but strangely, other dwarven clans tend to dislike it. It is a particular favorite with the Mithrilim dwarves, who deny that the name has anything more to do with their clan than the common silver hue of the mithril ore, but who nonetheless love to incorporate it into many of their dishes, particularly the spicy djellhees and ak-ak (pickled compotes) that they enjoy to give their food savour.
Birds, from the barnyard taenish to the forest warblers, like the fruit at the yellow or orange stage, before they become too aceedic, so if the plant is cultivated it must be protected with birdlime or netting for this reason. They also flourish in greenhouses, and many a noblewoman or peasant girl may have a plant or two on her windowsill to provide her fresh Mithatoes through the summer and fall!

Mixed with weeproot, pears, nuts, cinna, sea-salt, vinaigre (often made from its own stalks, mixed with old wine or new grapes) and other flavourings, the Mithato may be cooked down and 'distilled' into a thick, spiced paste known variously as 'chutney', 'chumney', 'catch-up' or 'pick-up', depending on the region. Even a half-ladle of the stuff goes a long way towards adding taste and complexity to a gravy or other savoury food, complements hams and roasts, and can even be spread on bread as a tangy snack. It is considered a concentrate which not only travels well and provides new energy to tired limbs, but can make unfamiliar or bland foods tasty. Some even claim that generously applied it will protect one from tainted food – venison which has become too high, old sausages, past-its-prime cheese, or eggs that were not properly candled. With all these virtues, it is no wonder that a small wax-sealed vial or coated squeeze-sack of 'catch-up' is often a popular inclusion in travellers' haversacks!

Some Other Favoured Mithrato Receipts:

Spring Salat of Mithribel & Banegasse – a savoury salat

Take four Mithribel from the vine, and let them be full ripe and scarlet. Slice as thin as you may, and set aside. Take one Banegasse cheese, the size of a big man's fist, and slice it also thin. Lay out leaves of what garden greens you have to cover a large platter. Just before you would take this dish to table, spice the Mithribel with sea-salt, ground peppercorn, one clove of fine-minced garleek, and a sprinkle of vinaigre. Lay the slices on your platter, first of Banegasse, then of Mithribel, round the plate like fishes' scales, overlapping to shew the white and the red, and leaving some edge of green like trim on a woman's petticoat. Serve forth at once with well-crusted breads.
Stuffed Tomatoes or ‘Tharatos’ – a hearty vegetable dish
Reserve two fist-size tom’s mithatos for each man or woman you expect to serve, or one for a child or halfling, or ten per orc. Cut the top with its stem thereto around, and lift off like a granther’s cap. Do you then scoop out the soft interior, seeds and flesh and all, and set into a bowl. Mix well with toasted breadcrumbs, grated Cart-n-Horse (or other hard gnomish cheese), chopped basiloc, seasalt, and pfeffer. You may add kernels of corn, onn beans, or other vegetables that remain from a prior meal, if you so desire. Set on a metal platter or tray and toast well in a hot oven until the cheese be melted, the bread brown, and the mithato flesh beginning to wrinkle. (Compiler’s note: this tasty dish apparently got its name in honour of Tharoc, an orcen compendiumist who favors this particular method of preparing mithatoes above any other!)

Emerato Tarts – a sweet dessert

Make a pastry of Golden Rain flour with some milchbutter and cold spring water, as you like best. Cut out your circles and place into your tart dishes, with their edges nicely pinched or fluted, and set aside. Tumble your husked emeratoes in a bowl with cinna powder, some reserved flour, a moiety of seasalt, two eyren well-beaten, and a few drops of brandy or fruit liqueur. It needs no further sweetening, for the emeraud mithato is as rich as any berry, but rather a sip or two of other flavouring that it not be too cloyingly sweet to the tongue. If you have malus juiced freshly, that is the best; if not, a few pestled medlarapples serve as well as any other fruit you may have about. Let some of the emeratoes be crushed by your spoon, that their liquid may meld the dish together, but ensure many remain whole. Place a ladle of the mixture into each tart and bake at a good heat till the crust is a tan-gold and the centre is set. The tarts will resemble enamel-green circlets, and may be decorated with slivers of injerato, cherry, or other bright fruit. If you cannot get sufficient emeratoes, you may make up no more than half the needed amount with green grapes, but be warned that the colour will not be as rich.

Injerato & Kitrauhren Ballroom Punch – a tangy and refreshing drink

Take the juice of forty Kitrauhren, and be wary that it has been strained well. Take one hundred (about five market-baskets) injeratoes, of a good golden colour. If you choose too many of the paler yellow or even the light green, the juice will be over-sweet and cloy the palates of the wearied dancers – but do not let your gardener or greengrocer foist in too many of the embers, with their brighter orange, for then the drink will be too sour and strongly-flavoured. Pestle and strain your injeratoes, through muslin of a fine weave, that the small seeds shall remain behind. Mix the two juices well in a ceramic bottom-tapped pot, like that which innkeepers use for ale, and let settle in a cool place. Strain again, or pour off the sediment from the bottom of your tapped pot, in half-a-day. You may add foridite sparingly, crystalbean if you have it, rosemint leaves, a tankard of sap from the maple, a few lavano beans, or a handful of skyweed berries. Brew a strong potful of golden cha'ah, and when cool, add to the mixture. Now decant your punch into a goodly-sized bowl, and add a serving ladle. For this punch, it is advised to avoid using a metal ladle, such as silver, mithril, or lesser metals such as tin: wood – preferably medlarapple or other fruit wood - should be used. Several bottles of a good white wine, such as the famed Saw-Free Capher's Reserve, should be added and stirred in well immediately after the cha'ah. Finally, you may slice a reserved kitrauhre and float the yellow circles atop the punch, or for those inclined to more elegance of display, sliced cavernfire fruit or meldastar.

Reproduction:

If left too long on the vine, the skin of the fruit begins to wrinkle and bulge ominously, and in short order begins to split along long vertical gashes which appear here and there running from the stem. Juice and already-decaying, liquifying flesh oozes out, black spots appear, and within a day or so that particular Mithato will drop from the vine, dissolving on the earth beneath, and self-seeding. In nature, this means of propagation ensures a wild tangle of spreading vines, each a separate plant having sprung from wherever a 'seeder mithato' has fallen (of course, many more than one, for there are a good twenty to fifty seeds in any one of the vegetables, as Jeyriall's profligate design would have it – but the demands of competing plants and vegetation around them often reduce the baby seedings to manageable numbers. And of course, the fruit has already been picked through by the various birds and animals who enjoy it at various stages, so only a few of the original crop of each year survive to become seeders for the next. Generally this results in a very aceedic, almost sour-flavoured vegetable, with a consistent wild overtone, a sort of bitter but appetite-provoking scent.

When gardened, generally the farmer is quick to harvest his fruit at the various stages called for by the market, and rarely does a Mithato reach the splitting stage unnoted. Rather, a few vegetables from plants with particularly prime flavours, healthy vines, and good producers, are culled from near the end of the harvest year and left to ripen that last little amount into 'seeders' on 'seeding trays', set in the sun and protected by individual horsehair sieves. As soon as they begin to split open, they are pulped in icy water and strained in those same sieves to separate the seeds from the liquified flesh. The seeds are then set back on the seeding trays to dry briefly and finally are stored in small parchment bags that, ironically, almost resemble the material of the lanterns they were cradled in as first fruits. And so the cycle continues from year to year.

Origins:

The Mithato was originally, and still is, a wild vegetable, its haired vines tangling where they please in wastelands, covering fallen trees and dead bushes, or growing in amorous clutches up ruined walls. Its present cultivated form we owe to one man in particular, who by careful – indeed, meticulous if not obsessive – observation and subsequent selection, gave us the 'tamed' Mithril Tomato.

We know him only as “Scarlet Tom”, and the distancing of history makes it unclear whether his nickname came from the vegetable or the reverse, but the most commonly accepted story goes something like this... (as a Bard of Marcogg would have us believe...)

Scarlet Tom was both the gardener and the jester of one of the less-well-to-do Markgravens of Keep Mistrash. An odd combination, to be sure, but then so was Tom. Some accident of birthing had left him hunched, in addition to the red stain, as bright as strong port wine, that spread across half his scalp and down his face in a gaudy splash. We know nothing of his childhood, though it seems his choice was to respond to the inevitable mockery of his peers – ah, children are cruel – with comic parody of his own, rather than let himself sink into dour bitterness. As a man, he could deftly turn away the jeers, even back upon their originator, with clever tongue and japery, raising a storm of laughter with rather than at him. His face, with the ever-present scarlet birthmark, also always wore a wry grin, twisted to the same side as the crook of his shoulders. But as he more and more immersed himself in the unjudging, unquestioning, relatively simple life of the green and growing things of Caelereth, it seemed to give him more comfort, more protection than he could summon for himself with words and wit. Who knows how he came to the Markgraven's service, or how that profligate son of a once-wealthy family kept him there? Be that as may, he was able to perform both the duties of a jester and entertainer, making merry at the (sadly-reduced) dinners or keeping his lord's spirits up, and that of the kitchen gardener. The Gravioness, a far more practical person than her spouse, had found that she could much reduce expense by having land cleared next the manor and her own vegetables grown, rather than send to the market each day, and when Tom's abilities with plants came to be known, he was swiftly – and, one presumes, contentedly – co-opted by the lady from her spendthrift husband. The wild Mithato was a well-known though scarce, and thus expensive vegetable at the time (and which time this was we cannot specify, save that it was longer ago than the last three or four centuries, but more recent than the time of the House of Kasiri) . Possibly it was for that very reason, and perhaps prompted by the needs of the Gravioness, that Tom began to experiment with growing and taming the plant – if he could not only produce food for his household, but create a surplus of this luxury that could be sold, the fortunes of the house might once again rise. And so it came to pass.

Scarlet Tom was the first to record for us the separate stages of the vegetable's growth, to carefully describe its reproductive cycle, and to select for larger and tastier fruit. His observations, copied and recopied (for alas, we have none of his original notes) have come down to us and are as accurate and thorough as any made today. His memory is embedded, as surely as Injera's rays, in the flesh of every richly red Mithato. The next time you see a wild vine spangled with silvery lanterns spreading its stalks over an old hedgerow, or relish a splash of 'chutney' with your cold ham slice of a luncheon's noon, send a prayer of thanks and memory to the soul of Scarlet Tom and his 'tomatoes'.


« Last Edit: 08 October 2010, 21:38:00 by Artimidor Federkiel »	Logged

"Give me a land of boughs in leaf / a land of trees that stand; / where trees are fallen there is grief; / I love no leafless land." --A.E. Housman

Bard Judith

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #1 on: 05 March 2010, 18:20:46 »

An illustration of the Mithato is in progress, somewhat delayed by a still-toasted monitor (it may actually be a damaged graphics card, sigh. As I have nothing until my first paycheck on the 27th, it's a moot point which...) It should be ready by the time the accompanying entry has been read, commented, critiqued, and revised! In the meantime, please enjoy the prose.


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #2 on: 05 March 2010, 20:45:06 »

*haha* Great to read an entry again from the Bard! It has been quite a while

Especially an entry that picks up an idea I just threw out there "on the fly" to express something, so it's always a pleasure to see something like that suddenly come to life...

As usual the entry doesn't leave anything to be desired (well, except Territory, which shouldn't be that much trouble, though), and I even learned that the female form for "Graven" is oviously "Gravioness", quite an inventive word creation... Well, the entry covers practically everything a tomato can stand for methinks, including receipt, backstory, specifications of ripeness, colour and flavour and fitting names, right until "volcanato"

And the Scarlet Tom story rounds it all up nicely!

Only thing I found a bit curious was that our Dwarfmistress uses the name "Mithrilim" for the "Mitharim" in the entry. Unless those "Mithrilim" are other dwarves we haven't heard of yet... - Oh, and BTW: Words like "favorite" and "flavoring" should get their ancient Tharian spelling

P.S. Too bad about your monitor/graphic card - hope you manage to at least find out which one is the troublemaker, and that it's the cheaper alternative.


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Tharoc Wargrider

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #3 on: 06 March 2010, 02:21:29 »

I shall cast an eager eye over this undoubtedly excellent offering tomorrow evening, Judy. I've just spent most of the night taking apart my old computer desk and building the new, much bigger one. My eyes and hands feel the need for respite just now.


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #4 on: 11 March 2010, 04:11:08 »

Please feel free, all, to read and comment on the Mithril Tomato: thorough and bardic it may be, but not exempt from error or subsequent critique - it needs your input and appreciation ere it wilts on me!

I think I also need encouragement to keep working on the picture; ever since starting full-time work again I haven't seemed to have either the time or motivation for the digital canvas, alas.


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #5 on: 11 March 2010, 22:39:15 »

Well, I don't know anyone who could write about tomatoes in such an elaborate way than you do, Judy, that has to be said! There are all these little ideas there like the tomato missiles or the mini-lanterns or the Ximaxian paper-maker that produces special paper for fire mages... It's really a joy to read all those things you've come up with! Add to that the various links to other already mentioned stuff in the Compendium like our hobbit-hero Hubert (cooks definitely must be heroes in the eyes of hobbits, no?), and you've got a more than exemplary entry here that is an absolute delight...

I might not know that much about plants, but I know a wonderful entry when I see one! thumbup

Definitely deserving an aura +1! Hope we get more of those again, or will get a nice pic for our special Santharian tomato! grin


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Azhira Styralias

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #6 on: 11 March 2010, 23:19:04 »

Indeed! Such detail, it makes me hungry just reading this. And to imagine tomatoes as an aphrodisiac! lol

Under Territory, if you could have a variety of tomato grow up North, that would be grand! I think the Themed'lon might be too cold, so perhaps the Kanapan lands? Those poor Kanapans hardly ever get a cross-reference anymore... azn


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Altario Shialt-eck-Gorrin

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #7 on: 11 March 2010, 23:40:59 »

Quote

And to imagine tomatoes as an aphrodisiac!

You did not know that Tomatoes were called Love Apples? The French called them Pomme d'Amour, and they were considered an aphrodesiac.


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #8 on: 12 March 2010, 04:54:44 »

Azhira darlin', a Kanamato just for you shall be forthcoming. Er, I mean a Kanapan-area tomato, hardy to the frost line....

And Alt, you have indeed caught me in an easter egg, albeit a very minor one - well done! Tomatoes ARE sexy, either stacked round and ripely in a bowl or as a blushing cream soup garnished with basil, or as a spicy puree drizzled over the partner of your choice...

Um, I have to go teach a class now. See you all later....


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Tharoc Wargrider

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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #9 on: 12 March 2010, 16:44:58 »

I thought the 'love apples' thing was common knowledge? Oh, well. Hey ho.

Mmmmm! Tomato and basil soup....*Drools*..... with chunks of bread dropped in to soak .......mmmmmm.

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Um, I have to go teach a class now.

As euphemisms go, Judy, that's a belter!


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #10 on: 15 March 2010, 05:55:16 »

The problem with a prolific imagination is that one is never believed when actually telling the truth! I am, after a year's more-or-less hiatus from full-time paid employment (that is, I was homeschooling Katherine, which is full-time but not renumerated) back to teaching ESL at Myongji University, with four classes a day four days a week.

And I eagerly await that first paycheck, too.

Hey! Where's my commentary and promised edits, m' dear green friend? Nice sidestepping of the issue, I must say...


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #11 on: 16 March 2010, 00:47:56 »

Sorry, dear MasterBard, I was distracted by some frippery or other. Now then, where was I........

This Uri will be in Orc-Snot Green.

THE MITHRIL TOMATO (Terran: Cherry Tomato x Ground Cherry)

AKA: Mithato, Mithribel, Tom's Mithato, Lantern Tomato, or the Silver Lythbel, depending upon region

Categorization: Edible Plant, Wild Plant, Vegetable, Herb, Reagent

Basic Overview of the Plant:

The Mithato, as it is frequently nicknamed, is a common wild vegetable which seems to be related to the Lyth'bel; round, scarlet when fully ripe, and more sharply aceedic in taste, it provides a bright and pungent accent to salats, makes wonderful rich sauces and condiments, and seems to have medicinal value as well. One assumes that it can be enjoyed 'out of hand'. IE eaten like an apple? It grows on sprawling multi-branched 'stalks' and is protected by silvery 'cases' resembling miniature lanterns formed from parchment. Cultivated and bred to its tame state most famously by a Marcoggian-area nobleman's jester-cum-gardener who went by the soubriquet of 'Scarlet Tom', it is better known in cities and market gardens as the 'Tomato', or 'Tom's Mithato'. Shall we be seeing this Scarlet Tom appear sometime soon?

Description:

In the wild state this plant rarely reaches more than a handspan or so high. Usually it may be found sprawling over and crawling across other plants with its weak stalks, almost more like vines – short, many-branching, and fuzzy. The length may range from a fore or so to nearly a ped, though wild varieties tend to be on the shorter side and tame ones longer. The plant is generally a uniform greyish-green hue with grain-length silvery hairs along its vines and the bottom of its multi-lobed, irregular leaves. When cultivated, it is usually staked up with forked sticks, or in more prosperous holdings, tied to trellises or tall cones made of long branches and grapevines – anything to keep its produce off the ground and exposed to the sun more freely. I grow Sweet Peas up branches I have snapped from overgrown trees. Stick a circle of them into the ground around the seedlings and they weave their way up through the network of twigs. Surely this technique isn't beyond the pocket of even the poorest of farmers?

It flowers early in the year, as soon as frost is out of the ground, or in warmer climes, twice or thrice in four seasons. Small, inconspicuous silver-grey flowers form on finger-length thin stalks along the length of the vines; no matter how the plant tangles itself along the ground or its supports, these slimmer stalks always face upwards towards Injera's rays, helping the fruit to soak in the warmth and energy it emits. These little flowers rapidly turn into small silvery nodules, each only about the size of an Onn bean, encased in silver parchment-like 'cases', or husks, shaped like paper lanterns.

The case grows along with the vegetable, which moves through several colour stages, and eventually splits open to reveal the tomato at its orange stage, after which the sun swiftly ripens it to its finished bright red. In its initial incarnation as a little silver nodule, it is inedible, at least by any of the sentient races, most of whom will react with indigestion, belly-gripes, or flux. It has been observed that even the wild birds, who love it at later stages, will not touch the vegetable when it is still mithril-hued. The small green fruit, about the size of a man's thumbnail, is quite sweet - almost cloyingly so - rather like young garden pease, but as it ripens, it becomes increasingly more aceedic and tangy. Yellow can range from thumbnail to goldbard size, and has a pleasant tinge almost of citraure, while the orange has almost reached its mature size, filling the palm of a human hand as comfortably as a childs' ball, and has attained the first stages of its uniquely pungent and aromatic flavour.

The bright red and richly tangy Mithato in its full glory is a wonderful thing, savoury, stimulating, and refreshing, all at once. We quote Hubert the Lorehaven chef-hobbit on Mithatoes as follows:

“Aye, the tomato! A glorious expression of Injera's light, made solid in glowing gorgeous flesh – as plump as a hobbitlass's cheeks shocked

, as ruddy as her lips, as delectable as.... er, the tomato is indeed a marvelous thing, versatile and delicious and, er, very very tasty!”

When picked at the peak of ripeness, the vegetable resembles a slightly flattened sphere, indented irregularly around the stem area in soft subtle bulges that do indeed call to mind the natural curves of anatomy. The short stem by which it was plucked from the plant juts jauntily from a little 'cap' of irregular mithril leaflets, sunk into the top's indentation. It fits sensually into the hand, its thin scarlet skin indenting easily to the slightest pressure, juicy 'tomato flesh' beneath. It must be cut with the sharpest of kitchen knives, or it merely splits apart, soft flesh, juice, and miniature seeds (tiny, soft, edible) spilling out. When sliced carefully, it resembles a walnut or other patterned nut in its interesting, segmented cross-section – the thick 'walls' of the internal divisions are the meat of the Mithato, containing a thick liquid, nearly jelly-like, which in its turn hold the tiny, flat, silvery seeds. The vegetable can also be juiced, pulped, cooked whole, rendered for sauces, and so on – see Usages, below.

Different receipts specify at what stage of ripeness the Mithato must be harvested to produce the effect desired, and slowly over the years of its cultivation as a garden vegetable a more-or-less consistent body of terms have arisen to describe the plant and its fruit.

Cases: 'husks' or 'lanterns'
Stalks and leaves – 'mithato vines'
Silver stage: 'mithato-babe', 'mithrilanato' (this stage is inedible)
Green stage: 'emeraud mithato', usually shortened to 'emerato' in chefs' jargon
Yellow stage: ' injeran mithato', often 'injerato', rarely 'golden mithato'
Orange stage: 'ember mithato', sometimes merely 'ember-ripe' or 'embers'
Red stage: 'scarlet tom's mithato', 'tom's mithato', or simply 'tomato'
Overripe: 'splitter', 'pulp mithato', 'seeder mithato', and, rather preciously, 'volcanato'

Naturally, the smaller the fruit, the younger it must be harvested, the more work it involves, (peeling, in the case of the emeratoes and injeratoes, for example, while the scarlet tomato verily drops into one's hand when ready) and the more must go into making up a certain weight – hence in general the earlier stages are more expensive in the average market than the latter. However, if the vegetable is offered at any stage out of its natural season (such as full-ripe tom's mithatoes early in the spring, which have been forced in a greenhouse during the winter, or from vines which were planted in summer to give emerauds in fall) it is of course considered premium and the prices reflect such desirability. The Mithato travels well at younger stages, and once off the vine will continue to ripen to a certain extent as long as it is exposed to Injera's influence, though the flavours are never quite as rich as when picked at their preferred peak. Hence you will hear many connoisseurs claim that the tomato is at its absolute best when taken from the vine and served fresh the same hour, preferably with the sun's warmth still held in its flesh... What about the very best of all; served on the vine? Deliciously expensive!

Territory: (still in progress)
Put here where this plant grows (which continent, which climate, which special region, e.g. mountains, sea, grasslands, etc.). How far spread the plant is would also be worth mentioning, along with any other information which relates to the placing of the plant.

- through most of temperate Sarvonia – always needs support but will grow on flats or hills equally readily – can even be grown in containers and on windowledges
- grows best in warmer climes, prefers a lot of sunlight, dislikes irregular watering, prone to cracking and splitting in too-damp atmospheres.
- a relative of the Lythebel, therefore can be found most places where it flourishes.
- other continents?

Usages:

The vegetables are used, of course, in cooking: fresh, in salats, as garnishes, in soups/stews/sauces, etc. A variety of receipts exist to make full use of the Mithato at different ripenesses. As an emerato or injerato, it is sometimes added to fruit dishes, to give more colour and subtlety, or incorporated into sweets, while embers and tomatoes are generally preferred in savory receipts. The yellow and orange are often juiced – mixed with a bit of the more expensive kitrauhre or citron fruit, and some sweetener such as foridite, sweet-bean extract, or sweetsip nectar, they make a refreshing and delicious drink. Of course, any stage except the first, silver, can be eaten directly from the plant as a fresh vegetable – a source of wonderful energy, our alchemists and gardeners both agree. Master Hubert is not alone in his identification of the Mithato as a storehouse of Injeran rays!

The dried cases, or husks, burn very well and are often incorporated into the tinder supply for flint-and-tinder boxes. They are also considered excellent reagents for Fire - specifically Light - spells due to their lantern-like shape, their high inflammability, and the plant's close association with the sun. At least one paper-maker I thought we were still on parchment?in Ximax, the famous company of 'Nib & Deckle', produces specialty sheets with Mithato husks incorporated into the other fibers, which is quite popular with the many Volrek-Oshra Fire Mages in the city.

Children enjoy picking the wild Mithato and eating the unripe, sweet nugget inside, then playing with the lantern husks. Girls tend to enjoy decorating miniature 'fairy houses' made from sticks and moss, or putting the toy lanterns into the hands of their home-made poppets and dolls. Boys sometimes seal the split through which they got the fruit with tree resin, then carefully fill up the resulting little 'pocket' of parchment with water, and hurl the missiles at each other or drop them on passerbys' heads when possible. grin

Elven children coax fireflies into the larger husks to create actual natural miniature lanterns (with a stunningly lovely effect, glowing softly with a pale greenish light), then twine them into wreaths for their hair or bouquets to garnish tables and archways.

Younger stalks can be peeled or scraped of their hairs and chopped into a stew or sauce as filler. They have, when cooked, a less tangy but still aceedic, refreshing taste. The scraped stems are also used along with grapes and other produce to make vinaigre or 'soured wine' for cooking. Perhaps if these hairs were collected and dried, they would cause great amusement for young boys when they drop them down the back of girls' dresses. Oh, how they would itch! evil

The fresh juice (whether pure or mixed) is considered both as a skin toner and purifier when used externally, and as an aphrodisiac when imbibed. It is held to lighten and brighten the skin, remove freckles and age spots, stimulate etherian desires, and encourage propagation. *fan, fan* Nurse! The screens!

Thergerim of the mountains love this little vegetable as it can be gathered for much of the year wild, but strangely, other dwarven clans tend to dislike it. It is a particular favorite with the Mithrilim dwarves, who deny that the name has anything more to do with their clan than the common silver hue of the mithril ore, but who nonetheless love to incorporate it into many of their dishes, particularly the spicy djellhees and ak-ak (pickled compotes) that they enjoy to give their food savour.
Birds, from the barnyard taenish to the forest warblers, like them at the yellow or orange stage, before they become too aceedic, so if the plant is cultivated it must be protected with birdlime or netting for this reason. They also flourish in greenhouses, and many a noblewoman or peasant girl may have a plant or two on her windowsill to provide her fresh Mithatoes through the summer and fall!

Mixed with weeproot, pears, nuts, cinna, sea-salt, vinaigre (often made from its own stalks, mixed with old wine or new grapes) and other flavourings, the Mithato may be cooked down and 'distilled' into a thick, spiced paste known variously as 'chutney', 'chumney', 'catch-up' or 'pick-up', depending on the region. Even a half-ladle of the stuff goes a long way towards adding taste and complexity to a gravy or other savoury food, complements hams and roasts, and can even be spread on bread as a tangy snack. It is considered a concentrate which not only travels well and provides new energy to tired limbs, but can make unfamiliar or bland foods tasty. Some even claim that generously applied it will protect one from tainted food – venison which has become too high, old sausages, past-its-prime cheese, or eggs that were not properly candled. With all these virtues, it is no wonder that a small wax-sealed vial or coated squeeze-sack of 'catch-up' is often a popular inclusion in travellers' haversacks!

Some Other Favoured Mithrato Receipts:

Spring Salat of Mithribel & Banegasse – a savoury salat

Take four Mithribel from the vine, and let them be full ripe and scarlet. Slice as thin as you may, and set aside. Take one Banegasse cheese, the size of a big man's fist, and slice it also thin. Lay out leaves of what garden greens you have to cover a large platter. Just before you would take this dish to table, spice the Mithribel with sea-salt, ground peppercorn, one clove of fine-minced garleek, and a sprinkle of vinaigre. Lay the slices on your platter, first of Banegasse, then of Mithribel, round the plate like fishes' scales, overlapping to shew the white and the red, and leaving some edge of green like trim on a woman's petticoat. Serve forth at once with well-crusted breads.

Emerato Tarts – a sweet dessert

Make a pastry of Golden Rain flour with some milchbutter and cold spring water, as you like best. Cut out your circles and place into your tart dishes, with their edges nicely pinched or fluted, and set aside. Tumble your husked emeratoes in a bowl with cinna powder, some reserved flour, a moiety of seasalt, two eyren well-beaten, and a few drops of brandy (SP. ?) or fruit liqueur. It needs no further sweetening, for the emeraud mithato is as rich as any berry, but rather a sip or two of other flavouring that it not be too cloyingly sweet to the tongue. If you have malus juiced freshly, that is the best; if not, a few pestled medlarapples serve as well as any other fruit you may have about. Let some of the emeratoes be crushed by your spoon, that their liquid may meld the dish together, but ensure many remain whole. Place a ladle of the mixture into each tart and bake at a good heat till the crust is a tan-gold and the centre is set. The tarts will resemble enamel-green circlets, and may be decorated with slivers of injerato, cherry, or other bright fruit. If you cannot get sufficient emeratoes, you may make up no more than half the needed amount with green grapes, but be warned that the colour will not be as rich.

Injerato & Kitrauhren Ballroom Punch – a tangy and refreshing drink

Take the juice of forty Kitrauhren, and be wary that it has been strained well. Take one hundred (about five market-baskets) injeratoes, of a good golden colour. If you choose too many of the paler yellow or even the light green, the juice will be over-sweet and cloy the palates of the wearied dancers – but do not let your gardener or greengrocer foist in too many of the embers, with their brighter orange, for then the drink will be too sour and strongly-flavoured. Pestle and strain your injeratoes, through muslin of a fine weave, that the small seeds shall remain behind. Mix the two juices well in a ceramic bottom-tapped pot, like that which innkeepers use for ale, and let settle in a cool place. Strain again, or pour off the sediment from the bottom of your tapped pot, in half-a-day. You may add foridite sparingly, crystalbean if you have it, rosemint leaves, a tankard of sap from the maple, a few lavano beans, or a handful of skyweed berries. Brew a strong potful of golden cha'ah, and when cool, add to the mixture. Now decant your punch into a goodly-sized bowl, and add a serving ladle. For this punch, it is advised to avoid using a metal ladle, such as silver, mithril, or lesser metals such as tin: wood – preferably medlarapple or other fruit wood - should be used. Several bottles of a good white wine, such as the famed Saw-Free Capher's Reserve, should be added and stirred in well immediately after the cha'ah. Finally, you may slice a reserved kitrauhre and float the yellow circles atop the punch, or for those inclined to more elegance of display, sliced cavernfire fruit or meldastar. I was hoping we'd see my favourite in there; Stuffed tomatoes. Nom nom nom! Do I detect a hint of Mrs Beeton in there, Judy?

Reproduction:

If left too long on the vine, the skin of the fruit begins to wrinkle and bulge ominously, and in short order begins to split along long vertical gashes which appear here and there running from the stem. Juice and already-decaying, liquifying flesh oozes out, black spots appear, and within a day or so that particular Mithato will drop from the vine, dissolving on the earth beneath, and self-seeding. In nature, this means of propagation ensures a wild tangle of spreading vines, each a separate plant having sprung from wherever a 'seeder mithato' has fallen (of course, many more than one, for there are a good twenty to fifty seeds in any one of the vegetables, as Jeyriall's profligate design would have it – but the demands of competing plants and vegetation around them often reduce the baby seedings to manageable numbers. And of course, the fruit has already been picked through by the various birds and animals who enjoy it at various stages, so only a few of the original crop of each year survive to become seeders for the next. Generally this results in a very aceedic, almost sour-flavoured vegetable, with a consistent wild overtone, a sort of bitter but appetite-provoking scent.

When gardened, generally the farmer is quick to harvest his fruit at the various stages called for by the market, and rarely does a Mithato reach the splitting stage unnoted. Rather, a few vegetables from plants with particularly prime flavours, healthy vines, and good producers, are culled from near the end of the harvest year and left to ripen that last little fraction would that be a medieval fraction? into 'seeders' on 'seeding trays', set in the sun and protected by individual horsehair sieves. As soon as they begin to split open, they are pulped in icy water and strained in those same sieves to separate the seeds from the liquified flesh. The seeds are then set back on the seeding trays to dry briefly and finally are stored in small parchment bags that, ironically, almost resemble the material of the lanterns they were cradled in as first fruits. And so the cycle continues from year to year.

Origins:

The Mithato was originally, and still is, a wild vegetable, its haired vines tangling where they please in wastelands, covering fallen trees and dead bushes, or growing in amorous clutches up ruined walls. Its present cultivated form we owe to one man in particular, who by careful – indeed, meticulous if not obsessive – observation and subsequent selection, gave us the 'tamed' Mithril Tomato.

We know him only as “Scarlet Tom”, and the distancing of history makes it unclear whether his nickname came from the vegetable or the reverse, but the most commonly accepted story goes something like this... (as a Bard of Marcogg would have us believe...)

Scarlet Tom was both the gardener and the jester of one of the less-well-to-do Markgravens of Keep Mistrash. Who says men can't multi-task

An odd combination, to be sure, but then so was Tom. Some accident of birthing had left him hunched, in addition to the red stain, as bright as strong port wine, that spread across half his scalp and down his face in a gaudy splash. We know nothing of his childhood, though it seems his choice was to respond to the inevitable mockery of his peers – ah, children are cruel – with comic parody of his own, rather than let himself sink into dour bitterness. As a man, he could deftly turn away the jeers, even back upon their originator, with clever tongue and japery, raising a storm of laughter with rather than at him. His face, with the ever-present scarlet birthmark, Interesting point: how would the various races look upon birthmarks? Would they see them as a punishment of some kind, perhaps? Or a blessing? What would they call them? also always wore a wry grin, twisted to the same side as the crook of his shoulders. But as he more and more immersed himself in the unjudging, unquestioning, relatively simple life of the green and growing things of Caelereth, it seemed to give him more comfort, more protection than he could summon for himself with words and wit. Who knows how he came to the Markgraven's service, or how that profligate son of a once-wealthy family kept him there? Be that as may, he was able to perform both the duties of a jester and entertainer, making merry at the (sadly-reduced) dinners or keeping his lord's spirits up, and that of the kitchen gardener. The Gravioness, a far more practical woman than her spouse Should that be 'person than her spouse'?, had found that she could much reduce expense by having land cleared next the manor and her own vegetables grown, rather than send to the market each day, and when Tom's abilities with plants came to be known, he was swiftly – and, one presumes, contentedly – co-opted by the lady from her spendthrift husband. The wild Mithato was a well-known though scarce, and thus expensive vegetable at the time (and which time this was we cannot specify, save that it was longer ago than the last three or four centuries, but more recent than the time of the House of Kasiri) . Possibly it was for that very reason, and perhaps prompted by the needs of the Gravioness, that Tom began to experiment with growing and taming the plant – if he could not only produce food for his household, but create a surplus of this luxury that could be sold, the fortunes of the house might once again rise. And so it came to pass.

Scarlet Tom was the first to record for us the separate stages of the vegetable's growth, to carefully describe its reproductive cycle, and to select for larger and tastier fruit. His observations, copied and recopied (for alas, we have none of his original notes) have come down to us and are as accurate and thorough as any made today. His memory is embedded, as surely as Injera's rays, in the flesh of every richly red Mithato. The next time you see a wild vine spangled with silvery lanterns spreading its stalks over an old hedgerow, or relish a splash of 'chutney' with your cold ham slice of a luncheon's noon, send a prayer of thanks and memory to the soul of Scarlet Tom and his 'tomatoes'.

A lovely tale to end a wonderful entry, Judy. As I expected, it is of your usual high standard, and deliciously suggestive in parts, you bad girl. I trust you will take my comments in the spirit they were meant. Oh, and you've got far too many double spaces for my liking, m'dear. Deal with it, forthwith!


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #12 on: 05 April 2010, 19:13:44 »

I wanted to drop by really quickly and tell you just how much I enjoyed reading this! I did a hardcopy uri on this waaaaay back, but never got around to typing it. Life has been... stressful... lately.

So I might not be able to post detailed commentary any time soon, but there is absolutely no excuse for not giving you a hearty hug and heartier slap on the back for such a splendid entry! It really brought a smile to my face - thanks Judy!


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #13 on: 06 April 2010, 03:09:12 »

Thank you both, m'dears. My apologies for letting this languish so long: I still can't use my monitor at home very effectively and I did want to get the picture up with the entry, but that's no good excuse. Auras of appreciation for both of you.

I shall honour Tharoc by adding Stuffed Tomatoes forthwith!

Coren, I hope your life will become more peaceful soon - you are much loved and missed in the Bard's rooms, so if things settle down for you to travel over from Nybelmar, a cup of cha'ah and warm reception always awaits...


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Re: The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl

« Reply #14 on: 11 May 2010, 00:43:23 »

Delicious, delightful, sumptious, and, um, slinky!

Splendid writing, Judith, naughty and baroque, and squiggled and interwoven like wild tomato vines, from which juicy sweet and savoury ideas hang like so many plump red fruit. I liked the elven lanterns, the fire mages who prefer their paper sunkissed, Hubert the Hobbit talking himself into a slippery corner, ...

There were many new words for an ardent student of English, as well: japery, cloyingly ... But what, dear Bard, are "etherean desires"? Heavenly cravings? Is this a phrase saintly or naughty? Or both?

I have few comments, and all of them tiny, except one, possibly:

Description:

Quote

Naturally, the smaller the fruit, the younger it must be harvested, the more work it involves, (peeling, in the case of the emeratoes and injeratoes, for example, while the scarlet tomato verily drops into one's hand when ready) and the more must go into making up a certain weight

That comma belongs after the closing bracket, I think.

Usages:

Quote

It is a particular favorite with the Mithrilim dwarves, who deny that the name has anything more to do with their clan than the common silver hue of the mithril ore, but who nonetheless love to incorporate it into many of their dishes, particularly the spicy djellhees and ak-ak (pickled compotes) that they enjoy to give their food savour.
Birds, from the barnyard taenish to the forest warblers, like them at the yellow or orange stage, before they become too aceedic, so if the plant is cultivated it must be protected with birdlime or netting for this reason.

... mithatoes ... (unless you meant to say that the birds like yellow and orange dwarves?)

Reproduction:

Quote

In nature, this means of propagation ensures a wild tangle of spreading vines, each a separate plant having sprung from wherever a 'seeder mithato' has fallen (of course, many more than one, for there are a good twenty to fifty seeds in any one of the vegetables, as Jeyriall's profligate design would have it – but the demands of competing plants and vegetation around them often reduce the baby seedings to manageable numbers.

You'll need a closing bracket somewhere. But the bracket text doesn't seem ideal to me, anyway. You may want to try something like: "... has fallen. In fact, several vines may grow from the same seeder, for there are a good twenty to fifty seeds ...."

Scarlet Tom:

Quote

The wild Mithato was a well-known though scarce, and thus expensive vegetable at the time (and which time this was we cannot specify, save that it was longer ago than the last three or four centuries, but more recent than the time of the House of Kasiri) .

You may want to consider making the text in brackets a footnote, to seperate the voice of your "Bard of Marcogg", the storyteller, from the compendiumist's interest in dating the historical event?

Quote

His observations, copied and recopied (for alas, we have none of his original notes) have come down to us and are as accurate and thorough as any made today.

I was surprised to read that, because I expected Tom to be illiterate. But I probably wouldn't have mentioned this if it wasn't connected to another idea I had.

Given all that's been said about the mithato's qualities, I expected Tom to use his plants to seduce the Gravioness, who in any case seemed to have reasons not to think too highly of her husband. Or maybe it was she whose fancies turned to the misshapen but witty and resourceful gardener? Tom and the lady might well have retreated to the garden shed occasionally, mightn't they, so that Tom could tell his literate employer all that he had found out about tomatoes, and so that she could write it down. And oh, doesn't it take a pleasantly long time, this discussing and putting to parchment all those details of tomato reproduction ...

Just an idea. rolleyes

Aura!


« Last Edit: 11 May 2010, 01:08:33 by Shabakuk Zeborius Anfang »	Logged

The greatest danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.
Ding-dong!

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Santharian Development

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Santharian World Development

The Santharian Herbarium (Moderators: Bard Judith, Miraran Tehuriden)

The Mithril Tomato - for Artimidor, whose casual reference inspired this plantl