Favorite tomatoes for sauce?

B

blind reptar

New member
MIL is Italian/American and she swears by the Red Pack brand. We can not
get those here. Not sure if I could get them in NY or MA. Groceries were
cheaper in PA where she is so I would always buy them there and take them
back with me. She is right. They are very good.

I read somewhere recently that Hunts products are not very good. That they
have an odd aftertaste. I do buy that brand sometimes because it is cheap.
But it is certainly not my favorite. On that episode of Cake Boss where
they gave all the contestants the Hunts sauce to make the Italian dinner, I
felt bad. Because I knew they weren't going to have the best sauce. I do
think it is okay to add into a soup or something with other ingredients.
But not for a pasta sauce.

I like the Contadina products and also the Pomi. Sometimes I can get some
good Italian brands at places like Big Lots. But if I get it there, I may
never get it again.

Our favorite sauce though is pre-made, Amy's Organic. I keep trying a
variety of things, including homemade and I think Amy's just tastes the
best. It is so good we can eat it without cheese and we don't even notice
it is missing.

The other night I made pizza using gluten free Schar's brand crust. The
crust was very good. Must buy that again. Also used Lucia's pizza sauce.
It was expensive, even on sale. Comes in a can. Daughter isn't normally a
fan of sauce so I only put a wee bit on her pizza. But I offered her some
extra in a bowl for dipping. At first she turned up her nose. But then she
tried the sauce. We both had extra. I was packing it on top of my pizza.
I was eating it with a spoon. That's how good it was! Must get some more
of that!
 
"Julie Bove" wrote in message
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These are considered the best canned tomatoes by many:

Cento Italian Peeled Tomatoes with Basil Leaf
Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Whole Tomatoes
Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes
Pastene Italian Peeled Tomatoes with Basil Leaf
Progresso Italian-Style Whole Peeled Tomatoes with Basil
Redpack Whole Peeled Tomatoes in Thick Puree
Rienzi Peeled Tomatoes
Sclafani Italian Peeled Tomatoes
Tuttorosso Italian-Style Peeled Plum Tomatoes with Natural Basil Flavor


The Progresso brand is pretty good. It's easy to find. The rest you pretty
much need to shop at a well stocked Italian deli to find them.

Paul
 
"Paul M. Cook" wrote in message
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I have not tried the Muir Glen tomatoes. Their salsa is fine but their
pasta sauce is plain evil! Has the worst taste ever, IMO. I think I have
bought the Pastene and Tuttorosso and liked them. Also maybe Cento.
Central Market does carry some of those brands.
 
On Feb 10, 6:33?am, Nad R wrote:


Curious: how many pounds of skin and sees are separated from, say, 5
lb. of tomatoes? I'm just trying to figure on the yield before I
invest in one of these strainers.

I'll bet your sauce is hev-en-lee. : )).
 
Kalmia wrote:


N.B. - Nad mentioned Roma Tomatoes. You can grow them or get them at
some farmers markets. The 'roma style' tomatoes I've seem in my
grocery store would produce a worse product than canned sauce.

Tomatoes for market are picked many days before ripe and suffer from
not ripening in the sun. [or maybe from being refrigerated-- but they
suffer]


Garden fresh Romas turned into a sauce are a whole nother animal from
any canned sauce I've eaten. I just got a strainer this winter-
so I'm looking forward to seeing how well it works in August.

Nad-- What's your process? Cook for some time, then strain?

Jim
 
Kalmia wrote:

Depending on your tomatoes, I never ever measured the extra before, I would
estimate less than ten percent is pulp and seeds. I do not consider the
skins and seed as waste, i consider it great for the compost. One can use a
hand food strainer for making small amounts of sauce. For home canning my
own homegrown tomatoes. I use the Holy Book of canning as a guide: Ball
Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for
Today [Hardcover]. I usually grow about fifty tomato plants each year, just
for me, myself and I.

http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Complete-Book-HomePreserving/dp/077880139X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

Nothing on the market selves compare, nothing better, my own homemade
tomato juice is so sweet compared to the bitter stuff one finds on grocery
shelves. From tomatoes, From my tomatoes I make: Sauce, pizza sauce,
tomato juice, salsa, whole tomatoes and diced tomatoes. Someday I would
like to get a champion juicer if I can find some spare change for other
canning purposes as well.

http://www.harvestessentials.com/chamhousjuic.html

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)
 
Jim Elbrecht wrote:

Oh GOD! Super market hot house tomatoes are awful!
I would agree that a mass market canned tomatoes are better than a super
market hot house tomatoes. Garden fresh is the only way to go!

Yes to garden fresh Romas ( any plum tomato will work ) because it the
tomato is not that juicy to begin with. I go by the Ball Home preserving
book. Cook, Strain and cook more until at least half has evaporated for a
thick sauce. It takes a very very long time, several hours, to can ones own
sauce. But i find it worth it. I believe tomato sauces is the most time
consuming of all tomato canning processes.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)
 
"Julie Bove" wrote in news:iivlu7$as6$1
@news.eternal-september.org:


I have to avoid things with onions, so right now it's ItalFoods Tomato
Basil sauce. I used to buy an Italian imported sauce that was only
tomatoes but the store stopped carrying it. I can buy the ItalFoods one in
a number of local stores.

It's a sauce with small chunks of tomatoes so not entirely smooth which
suits me.

--

On the first day God created the sun - so the Devil countered
and created sunburn. On the second day God created sex. In
response the Devil created marriage. On the third day God created
an economist. This was a tough one for the Devil, but in the end
and after a lot of thought he created a second economist!

http://www.blabbinit.com/content/god-created-economist
 
On 2/9/2011 10:27 PM, Julie Bove wrote:

I mostly buy Delmonte canned veggies, including tomatoes. Once
in a while I buy Red Pack if they have the particular variety called
for in a recipe. I recently made Lidia's Chicken Cacciatore and it
called for crushed tomatoes. I didn't see any with the Delmonte
stuff but found them in Red Pack. They were very good.

I mostly use Delmonte diced. I love the fact that they are diced.
I lived in ancient times when there were no diced canned tomatoes
so you had to get canned whole tomatoes and chop them up. What a
nuisance. And there were seeds and hard bits from the stem end that
needed to be removed.

Anyway, I like Delmonte but Red Pack is also excellent.


I've never cared for Hunt's.


Almost the only thing I see by Contadina is tomato paste. And I don't
think I've seen Pomi. Anyway, I tend to go by price a lot and Delmonte
is often on sale and I think it's cheaper in general. I could be wrong.
though.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
?If I were as old as I feel, I?d be dead already.?
Goldfish: ?The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.?
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?
mailto:[email protected]
 
On Feb 9, 7:27?pm, "Julie Bove" wrote:

Six In One: the pride of Escalon, CA. Available in Italian groceries
across America
 
On Feb 10, 12:27?am, "Paul M. Cook" wrote:



Meh


Meh


Meh


Not bad


I'm going to have to try to find these.

While I wouldn't make these the foundation of my sauce, if you need
some chopped tomatoes for a recipe this time of year, I like S&W
canned chopped tomatoes. Here Costco carries them.
 
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
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On Feb 10, 12:27 am, "Paul M. Cook" wrote:



Meh


Meh


Meh


Not bad


I'm going to have to try to find these.

While I wouldn't make these the foundation of my sauce, if you need
some chopped tomatoes for a recipe this time of year, I like S&W
canned chopped tomatoes. Here Costco carries them.


S&W is ok. After reading some reviews I think Pomi is the brand I want to
try the most. They come in BPA packaging which means no tinny taste, which
I can't stand.

Paul
 
On Thu, 10 Feb 2011 06:14:19 -0800 (PST), Kalmia
wrote:



You don't want to bother if all you're thinking is say five pounds of
tomatoes... buy your sauce.
 
"Nad R" wrote in message
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Sadly, tomatoes don't always grow well here. It usually doesn't get hot
enough. One year I got a bumper crop. But most years I am lucky to get one
or two that actually get ripe before fall. Or we get so much rain that they
split open.
 
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
news:d30f50c0-6b51-40c0-9898-59f17b81be77@s29g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 9, 7:27 pm, "Julie Bove" wrote:

Six In One: the pride of Escalon, CA. Available in Italian groceries
across America

Thanks! Haven't seen that one.
 
"Paul M. Cook" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

I love the Pomi packaging. Once in a while I go on a polenta kick for
breakfast. I put a little tomato sauce on it and nuke it. I can just stick
the opened box in the fridge and not worry about it.
 
In article ,
"Julie Bove" wrote:



I take it you haven't tried catsup yet? We made tomato sauce twice. It
was a lot of work for something that is cheap at the store. I doubt
we'll do it again.


It doesn't seem well advertised, but it seems the secret to getting
tomatoes in your case might be early tomatoes. Look for the ones with
fewer days to maturity. Everybody wants those huge tomatoes that fill
an entire sandwich, edge to edge, with one slice. However, those
tomatoes require a long season of hot days and not cold nights. We have
cold nights where I live, and some tomatoes just don't set fruit
reliably.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
[email protected]
 
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