Lisa McManus is joined by Jack Bishop to taste their way through different canned whole tomatoes to see which deserves a spot in your pantry. The two discuss the pros and cons to tomatoes packed in juice versus puree, and are surprised by which brands come out as winners.
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20 Comments
Do Not use USA tomatoes.
All are GMO
Buy imported Italian tomatoes
I can't believe that the hunts san Marino style tested as high as the actual san marzano tomato. Great I will try the hunts brand.
Thier advice is so simple and ridiculous. Try making a raw pizza sauce with tomatoes in juice and not puree. It literally doesn’t work, your pizza will be soup. Then, two of their favourites were packed in puree, so why wouldn’t you redo the test. These generalisations make the test useless. Also, how do you not test Bianco tomatoes which are considered the best canned tomatoes in the US? Finally, why would you blindly add the same amount of salt to each sauce, makes no sense, who would do that, do you not taste your food and season it?
Pastene is my go to!
Funny how in one of the brands they dislike it but yet kept tasting it 😂🤣
First of all 95% of San Marzano tomatoes are NOT DOP certified. And as always we have our favorite based on our taste buds. My go to is Tuttorosso Italian Style Tomato Sauce with Basil, Garlic, and Olive Oil.
Love Muir Glen, personally.
We see these two using spoons and small bowls. Better choice of utensils would be knife and fork. Much neater and easier.
Hunts is a terrible product
I thought it was well know that Cento San Marzano tomatoes were superior. Stock up when you see them on sale, and its all you need!!
I wish they had tasted Bianco
I guess you've just never tried my home-canned tomatoes. They are the best!
I do not like Cento. Redpak is the best.
I've been buying the Cento whole peeled tomatoes for a while now, I like them. I also very much agree with tomatoes without calcium chloride.
Hunt’s forever!
I remember in the good old days when bucca de beppo had cento cans just randomly placed all over the restaurant. ❤
The Hunts San Marzano definitely punch above their weight and are about half the price of Cento usually so it's a good budget alternative. It's way, way easier to find the Cento though in my experience, nearly every major grocer has them but only some have the Hunts.
Regular Cento No need to pay extra for the Sam Marzano name.
I agree that Mutti should be included in the next taste test. It’s typically very well regarded in other comparisons, so seeing it evaluated alongside Cento and Muir Glen would have been helpful.
The other U.S. brand that has been well regarded as Bianco di Napoli. I’m always interested in learning the best domestic versions. I lean toward made in Italy brands. Maybe a comparison of just domestic brands? I’m also curious whether some of these canned tomatoes might perform better in applications other than pasta sauce? Like a chilli or a long-simmered stew. In dishes that cook for hours, would a firmer tomato actually hold up better and deliver a different result? Love these episodes. Thank you!
I do like the taste of Cento whole peeled, but i prefer when they're packed in juice when making soups