Reviews you can trust.
See why.Canned Whole Tomatoes
When it comes to the best canned tomatoes, is Italian pedigree the determining factor, or do the sweetest, brightest-tasting specimens come from this side of the Atlantic?
Top Picks
See Everything We Tested
What You Need To Know
If you believe all the hype from Italian chefs and cookbooks, then San Marzano tomatoes are the best tomatoes in the world. Promoters of the prized crop claim that the climate and fertile soil in the eponymous southern region of Italy where they grow are behind the fruit’s meaty texture, juiciness, and exceptional flavor. Only tomatoes grown in the region from seeds dating back to the original cultivar and according to strict standards may receive the elite Denominazione d’Origine Protetta (DOP) label. In the past, San Marzanos were hard to come by in the United States, but that never deterred loyalists, who sought out cans from gourmet markets and online retailers. In recent years, however, San Marzano tomatoes have become easier to find, showing up in regular supermarkets and under different brand names. That’s partly because not all brands labeled “San Marzano” are DOP-certified. These days, some of the tomatoes are even grown in the United States from San Marzano seeds.
Are San Marzano Tomatoes the Only Way to Go?
Regardless of where they’re from, the wider availability of San Marzanos renewed our general interest in canned whole tomatoes—a product that we frequently prefer to diced or crushed. (Oftentimes, the latter two are selected from fruit that’s been damaged during harvesting and have been more thoroughly treated with firming agents to prevent them from breaking down.) We decided to hold a taste-off: San Marzanos versus everything else. After collecting 10 different brands—three labeled San Marzano, the other seven a mix of Italian, Canadian, and American products—we sampled them straight out of the can as well as simmered in both quick- and long-cooked tomato sauces.
Our questions: Are San Marzanos really the ultimate canned whole tomatoes—that is, bright, sweet, and tangy, with meat that’s plush and soft enough to melt into a sauce but without completely dissolving? More important, would they taste noticeably better than regular tomatoes once they’d been cooked down in a sauce with aromatics and wine?
Verdict: San Marzano Samples Fell Short of High Expectations
Surprisingly, the answer to both questions was a definitive “no.” Though each of the three San Marzano samples elicited a few lukewarm compliments here and there—“agreeable flavor”; “nice blank-slate tomatoes”—none of them delivered the bold, deeply fruity taste that we were expecting, nor did they hold their shape well. In fact, these tomatoes scored well below several of the domestic samples, the best of which were deemed “bright,” “complex,” “meaty,” and—as one taster noted in amazement—like “real” tomatoes.
Denominazione d’Origine Protetta (DOP) Isn't E...
Everything We Tested
Recommended
“Reminds me of a real summer tomato,” said one taster about our favorite sample. No wonder: Its strong acidity and high level of sweetness made for flavor that was “vibrant” and “sweet in a natural way.” The addition of calcium chloride gave the tomatoes a “nice firm texture” that held up even after hours of simmering.
Even after two hours of simmering in our long-cooked sauce, these calcium chloride–treated tomatoes were “meaty,” with “distinct shape.” A relatively high Brix value and low pH—an ideal combination for tomatoes—explained their “fruity,” “bright” flavors.
Recommended with reservations
These nicely “firm,” globe-shaped tomatoes shared the same low pH (i.e., strong acidity) as our favorite brand, but they lacked its sweetness. As a result, several tasters found them “a bit sharp,” even in the long-cooked sauce. Others liked the big acid punch, praising their “bright” flavor.
Although these non–DOP certified San Marzano tomatoes scored highest for sweetness, they lacked acidity, and tasters found their flavor merely “average”—even “untomatoey.” That said, they fared best of all the Italian brands, particularly because their texture “held up” relatively well in sauce.
Without calcium chloride, these Italian tomatoes were so “mushy” that they “tasted like sauce” before we had even cooked them. Their “sweet” flavor redeemed them for some tasters, but with only moderate acidity, they also tasted “flat.”
What’s in a name? In this case, not much. These impostor “San Marzano” tomatoes were grown domestically with seeds from Italy’s famous varietal. Some tasters picked up on their high level of sweetness and complimented them for it, but without equally high acidity, the tomatoes’ flavor was also “muted.”
Tasters noticed this sample’s lack of calcium chloride in all three applications, describing the tomatoes as “mushy” and “border-line soupy.” Thanks to low acid and moderate sweetness, their flavor was middle-of-the-road: “fruity” and “light” but also “uninspired.”
With the least amount of sweetness, not much acidity, and no added salt, these tomatoes didn’t “pack much punch.” Some tasters considered that effect pleasantly “clean” and “light,” whereas others complained that they offered “no real tomato flavor at all,” particularly in the long-simmered sauce.
We had high expectations for these pricey DOP-certified San Marzano tomatoes but came away disappointed. Because of low sweetness and acidity, their flavor translated as “weak” and “thin”—at best “clean” and “straightforward.” Like the other calcium chloride–free samples, they broke down easily.
Not Recommended
We like a bit of firmness to our tomatoes, but thanks to their particularly thick flesh, these samples were “tough,” “chewy,” and “fibrous.” Worse, their low sweetness and acidity made them taste “muted,” “unbalanced,” and “nothing like summer tomatoes.”
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
0 Comments
