Folklore as a source can be tricky, especially when it comes to tomatoes.
Both Lynchburg, Virginia and Salem, New Jersey, have stories about
prominent people publicly eating "love apples," to persuade the populace
that tomatoes are not poison. The story is so universal, and attributed to
so many prominent individuals, that I take it with a boulder of salt.
 
As for the tomato seeds in African-American privies, I would be intrigued
to know the source for belief that the seeds would not be seen before the
late nineteenth century.
 
It is an unfortunate fact that tomato seeds survive in the human gut, and
may actually germinate after going through supposedly tertiary sewage
treatment. The best place to find volunteer tomato plants used to be
downstream from the sewer plant, back when they had downstreams below sewer
plants, before  the Clean Water Act. So poor folks could obtain tomatoes
without either buying or planting them.
 
The modern tomato was a response to the need for a vegetable that could be
canned at low temperatures safely. The acidic tomato was the perfect
canning vegetable. So the popularity of the tomato increased with the
increase of the canning industry during the period after the Civil War.
 
Before the Civil War, the tomato was merely one of many vegetables, and I
suspect that the stories about "poison" attributes may be exaggerated. The
tomato was a product of the canning revolution, as were many of the tomato
products we enjoy today. Yes, pizza once was made without tomato sauce, and
still is, according to Julia CHild.
 
Regards,
 
Ned Heite
 
P O Box 53
Camden, Delaware 19934 USA
 
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