What Type of Canned Tomato Product Should You Use?

quote:

---

Crushed san marzano

---

San Marzano is the correct answer, and NOT San Marzano "style" tomatoes. I think I only ever see them whole in stores here, but no biggie to crush them myself.

I always laugh when I see cans marked san marzono at the damn piggly wiggly
the cento brand is decent which is what I normally use for tomato sauce
if I'm just hucking a tomato or two into a pot I use whatever is cheapest

I buy Cento San Marzano's or their Whole Peeled with basil from California. Both are great.

Never crushed, whole only. The crushed are too often watery. I really don't care if they're San Marzano or not....and unless they're DOP marked, you can be pretty sure it's not really made w San Marzanos from the traditional area. The tomato variety is only part of the equation....that volcanic Mt Vesuvius soil is key.

quote:

---

Kroger had the Centos on sale a while back, and I stocked up.

---

What price is a stock-up price? Zuppardo's had them on sale this week for $3.99 per 28 oz.

DOP stands for denominizaione di origine protetta, which is the food equivalent of DOC and DOCG in wine. It is an Italian designation for a foodstuff produced in a specific area, either from a certain variety (like those San Marzanos) or according to a certain method of production using specific ingredients (like cheeses).

Locally, we claim the superior flavor of creole tomatoes, which are from quite a few different varieties all grown in the same general area on alluvial soils. Is it a creole if it's grown in east TX? No. Terroir matters.

I use Cento all the time, as it's easily the best canned tomato sold in my rural burg.

We stopped buying can tomato products years ago because of all the salt. We grow our own and freeze the puree in quart bags. We freeze more than enough to last a year and end up giving some away each summer.

We're very conscious about salt and sugar and don't either when cooking, ever.

Are you saying you don't add salt or sugar to anything?

We also try to minimize salt and sugar but sometimes they're just essential. The dish sometimes won't work without them. Sometimes you can sub Splenda for sugar in a dish that's not gonna be heated after adding, but there really isn't a substitute for salt.