History
The first meeting was held on February 12, 1980 at the home of Martha Rovner. Those present were Alice Mason, Lois McGann, Jessie McDonald, Marrilla O'Brien, Carol Mankin and Virginia Saiia. These ladies had become acquainted at Carol Mankin's fabric shop.
At the meeting a name was discussed and plans made to finalize the name at the March meeting. In March, Pat Morris, Marion Shafer, JoAnn Johnson and Pat Klee joined us. Names presented were Pine Needlers, Pine Barren, Jersey Devils, Ocean Waves, Nonesuch, Lenape Land, Pine Tree and Love Apples.
Love Apple was chosen not only because it is the name of a quilt pattern but also because it is another name for the tomato. Our founding members decided that since Southern New Jersey is famous for its abundant crops of tomatoes, it would be a most fitting name.
Joe Carccioni, Channel 6's Green Grocer, discussed the reason the tomato is called a love apple. The tomatoes we are used to seeing are red, but the first tomatoes were yellow and native to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. They were taken to Mexico and there they found their way to Spain, where they were called "Pommes de Oro", or "apples of gold". From Spain they went to Italy where a visiting Frenchman asked what the name of the fruit was. He was told "Pomme de Moore", from the Moors in Spain. That is where the tomato got its name--Love Apple--because the Frenchman understood it as "Pomme de Amore", the Love Apple.
