what to do with canned san marzano tomatoes

When true San Marzanos and other San Marzano-type tomatoes are unavailable, other canned plum tomatoes can be used in their place. The tomatoes are so revered in Italy that to make true Neapolitan pizza, according to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, you must use San Marzano tomatoes. “Italians will send tomatoes to the U.S. with no label, and companies here will put a DOP label on. Luckily, there are not many brands that produce certified DOP San Marzano tomatoes, so once you find a legit brand—and the best way to do that is to go through a specialty supplier—you’re in the clear. And Epicurious named them second, just bested by Indiana’s RedPack (also labeled as Red Gold in certain regions), in their own experiment for simple pasta sauces. You can also look for a certification of the consortium by finding the seals for both the DOP and the consorzio, as well as a certification number for the tin at the bottom. We are experiencing an error, please try again. Aside from its status as a protected designation under EU and international law, the San Marzano tomato is a plum-type cultivar that can be grown anywhere other tomatoes flourish. She was previously a senior editor at Saveur, the food & drink editor at Time Out New York, and the food editor of Martha Stewart Living Radio. Interestingly enough, DOP-certified Gustarosso doesn’t even use the word “San” on its label. Fred Decker is a trained chef and certified food-safety trainer. So according to the guy who oversees the certification of those tomatoes, at least 95 percent of the so-called San Marzanos in the U.S. are fakes. Problem is, almost all the recipes for sauce I can find call for the canned variety. Joe Cicala, executive chef of Le Virtú in Philadelphia, uses two types of Italian canned tomatoes, one DOP San Marzano (Gustarosso) and a pointy cherry tomato also grown in Campania called Piennolo (Casa Barone), which are on the savory side and have their own DOP designation. If you’re at the grocery store, Muir Glen is your best bet. Mari Uyehara is a food and travel writer based in Brooklyn. To find out more about this crazy widespread canned-tomato fraud, I called up Danielle Aquino Roitmayr at Gustiamo. When the tomatoes are canned, they are required to have a DOP emblem on the label to symbolize their authenticity. Food writers are working with ingredients that home cooks can easily find at the neighborhood grocery store, where all the San Marzanos are fakes. To make true Neapolitan pizza, according to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, you must use San Marzano tomatoes. The reason why there are so few true San Marzano brands is that the DOP-designated area for San Marzanos, the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino between Naples and Salerno, encompasses a relatively limited number of small plots. And yet you’d be hard-pressed to find a cooking magazine or website here in America that recommends them. To substitute fresh San Marzano tomatoes for canned tomatoes, blanch them for a minute or two in boiling water to loosen the skins. But good chefs don’t shop at the grocery store and test out all sorts of specialty suppliers to find the best possible ingredients available. Chefs and home cooks alike will use San Marzanos when they are available, but sometimes a substitution is necessary. Copyright 2020 - Taste, A Division of Penguin Random House LLC. What Is the Difference Between Canned Diced Tomatoes & Canned Stewed Tomatoes? They’re produced by just one guy, Sabatino Abagnale. Does anyone have a … Sep 15, 2020 - Explore Liza Robbins-Theuman's board "san marzano tomato recipes", followed by 291 people on Pinterest. Some years ago, I was working with the editorial director at Martha Stewart Living on a line of prepared foods. Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Out of all that devastation comes the beauty of San Marzanos. One of the more iconic brands in the U.S., with graphic white labels and pretty red illustrations of the plum tomato, is not even from Italy, even though its name is “San Marzano.” Look closely on the label and it says “Grown Domestically in the U.S.” The company is merely named after the famous tomatoes, which is completely legal to do in the U.S. See more ideas about tomato recipes, san marzano tomatoes recipes, san marzano tomatoes. “They grow in a mix of volcanic soil with a healthy amount of sand and crushed seashells,” says Cicala. We use canned for sauces, and I figured that if I grew my own, I could make even more wonderful sauce. The only canned tomatoes legally entitled to be sold as San Marzanos are those of the original cultivar, from the original growing region around the village of San Marzano in Campania. Italy is the biggest importer of Chinese tomato paste, and you can guess where that is going. “I would not buy anything in a grocery store that says “Italian” on it.”. What’s on the Menu for a Thanksgiving in Revolt? At times, when canned San Marzanos or other tomatoes are not available, it may be possible to secure fresh San Marzano tomatoes from a local grower. It’s not just the San Marzano tomato fakes and the much-publicized olive oil fraud, either. These tomatoes give your sauce a thicker consistency, and are sweeter, richer, and less acidic in flavor. The latest in food culture, cooking, and more. The long, meaty tomatoes are actually structurally distinct from most other plum tomatoes, containing only two seed pockets instead of the typical five. To substitute fresh San Marzano tomatoes for canned tomatoes, blanch them for a minute or two in boiling water to loosen the skins. Some favored DOP San Marzanos or other Italian tomatoes; others liked California brands. At times, when canned San Marzanos or other tomatoes are not available, it may be possible to secure fresh San Marzano tomatoes from a local grower. They command a higher price than regular canned tomatoes, and as with any other premium brand, counterfeits follow. But even then, it’s something of a toss-up. They’re sweeter and are known for having low acidity, few seeds, and skin that you can easily remove. The DOP-designated area for San Marzanos encompasses a relatively limited number of small plots. This makes San Marzanos excellent for canning or sauces. He's held positions selling computers, insurance and mutual funds, and was educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. San Marzano tomatoes are thinner than Roma tomatoes (a common variety of tomato), with a pointed end. Unlike faux Chanel bags, though, you can buy San Marzanos in legit stores, which is why the sheer number of knockoffs is jaw-dropping. The individual cook or chef will need to taste the sauce frequently, and adjust the seasonings to compensate for the loss of the signature taste of the San Marzanos. named them second, just bested by Indiana’s RedPack, graphic white labels and pretty red illustrations of the plum tomato. The San Marzano is longer and thinner than most plum tomatoes, with thick and meaty flesh and relatively little juice or seeds. We can’t get enough of them.”. Tamales de Pollo en Salsa Verde: Chicken in Green Salsa Tamales, Chicharrón en Salsa Verde: Fried Pork Skins in Green Salsa. Pastene: The Flavorful San Marzano Tomato, Martha Stewart; Cured San Marzano Tomatoes Recipe; Missy Robbins. It doesn’t even bother with faking a DOP label; using the name is enough to confuse most shoppers. I polled a bunch of chefs cooking Italian food in the U.S. to find out what tomatoes are best for cooking pasta sauces (or braises or shakshuka or whatever else you want to put canned tomatoes in). In Italy, tomatoes labeled as “San Marzano” must adhere to strict DOP (the Italian protected designation of origin) guidelines, which governs where they’re grown and how they’re processed. However, unlike how organic produce is regulated, there is no regulation … Use San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes: to make a perfect tomato sauce you need San Marzanos. One telltale sign that your can of San Marzanos is a fake, according to Ruggiero, is that it contains crushed or diced tomatoes. Two chefs use non-DOP tomatoes. Though Italian by blood and almost fanatically puritanical when it comes to ingredients, she was a die-hard fan of the tomatoes from Muir Glen, the organic California brand now owned by General Mills. And perhaps that is where the breakdown between San Marzano–skeptical cooking experts and chefs originates. It seemed worth an investigation. A substitute for crushed tomatoes in tomato sauce.