A brief summary of canned tomato product density

Interesting. In low carbing I learned to read labels on some of these. Hunts for example is the only common grocery canned version without added sugar.
 
I was suprised to see what was cooked, even slightly.

When I started cooking, sometime in the previous century, diced tomatoes were not available. I tend to buy diced now as well, because I am now lazy. But one chef's theory is that there is a likelihood of fresher tomato flavour if you do the dicing yourself. Ya, I bought into that for a while. It made sense. However, laziness still reigns.


Anyone have a preference for San Marzano?
 
I was suprised to see what was cooked, even slightly.

When I started cooking, sometime in the previous century, diced tomatoes were not available. I tend to buy diced now as well, because I am now lazy. But one chef's theory is that there is a likelihood of fresher tomato flavour if you do the dicing yourself. Ya, I bought into that for a while. It made sense. However, laziness still reigns.


Anyone have a preference for San Marzano?
Definitely San Marzano for making an Italian sauce. These are actually counterfeited too so I usually buy an Italian brand if I'm going to buy them.
I love the Cento tomatoes.
 
My Italian mother, who lived down the street and grew and made EVERYTHING from scratch, instead of dicing would just crush them with her hands into the pot. Of course these were mostly her own whole canned tomatoes, but sometimes canned. So I do what she taught me. Now if I only had her sauce recipe…when she passed away I thought her daughter knew, but no! She made such good food, but she didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Italian, so you could only get so far with pointing.
 
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There was a high-profile program in Canada by CBC, which identified sources of tomatoes as highly misleading. Even the so-called Italian brands were proving to be tomatoes grown in China where it was further found that 'forced labour' of Ugurs was used in the production. This all caused a great furor, for several reasons. But since it is not necessary for the label to state where the product was grown, there remains a great deal of confusion.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-tomato-products-investigation-1.6227359
 
To find out which tomatoes are really from Italy. You are looking for:
  1. No added ingredients and the symbol that says: “Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese Nocerino D.O.P.” This confirms that the tomatoes are from the Agro Nocerino Sarnese region of Italy.
  2. Then look for the DOP seal and serial number. D.O.P. stands for “Denominazione d’ Origine Protetta”. Translated to English it means “Protected Designation of Origin”. The DOP symbol is a legally registered trademark that identifies regional European food products that are protected by law. So, it guarantees by law that you are getting exactly what you expect.
More info:

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most of the stuff that says "truffle" is also from China as is some of the prosciutto.
 
, instead of dicing would just crush them with her hands into the pot. Of course these were mostly her own whole canned tomatoes, but sometimes canned. So I do what she taught me

That is what I did until there were diced tomatoes.
 
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