Lycopene? Yes.

January 12, 2007 3:46 PM

What's a good sweet tasting canned tomato for creating a nice marinara? No salt added and/or organic would be ideal.
posted by Yukon to Food & Drink (28 answers total)

Pomi, hands down.
* 100% natural, garden ripe tomatoes
* No preservatives or citric acid
* Low in salt
posted by parilous at 3:54 PM on January 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

I like Muir Glen, which always seems to win the Cooks Illustrated taste tests.
posted by transona5 at 4:07 PM on January 12, 2007

Another vote for Pomi.
posted by trip and a half at 4:10 PM on January 12, 2007

san marziano is the best
posted by enaira at 4:43 PM on January 12, 2007

I buy San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes, and either crush them by hand or in a food mill. The label is mostly white with rudimentary drawings of plum tomatoes on it, and it just says "San Marzano" on it. 2 cans for $4 at my grocery store this week. But I'll also occasionally buy the Muir Glen Fire Roasted Whole Tomatoes, too.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:52 PM on January 12, 2007

6-in-1 is my absolute favorite, though it's been increasingly hard to find.
posted by occhiblu at 5:11 PM on January 12, 2007

san marzano better than pomi
posted by vronsky at 5:14 PM on January 12, 2007

Muir Glen is good - very tomatoey, no weird processed flavor, almost ate them straight out of the can before remembering oh yeah, the sauce kinda needs them.
posted by casarkos at 5:36 PM on January 12, 2007

The best tomatoes are hands down the ones grown and packed in Italy. Check labels carefully - some brands say "Italian tomatoes" with the Italian flag and all that nonsense but in tiny letters it says "packed in New Jersey." Look for a label that says imported. Also, try to avoid tomatoes packed with puree, which tend to taste tinny.

(I'm a big snob about bottled sauces but if you can find Mario Batali's plain marinara, snap it up at whatever the price. It's spectacular - the only one worth buying.)
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:41 PM on January 12, 2007

Good Italian markets usually just carry the San Marzanos that Dave Faris mentioned, but I can't get them in my local supermarkets.

Personally, I don't like Pomi--I make a Marcella Hazan recipe that makes me go weak in the knees but with Pomi tomatoes it came out mushy and bland. Muir Glen's my usual choice, just the plain diced ones.
posted by bcwinters at 6:12 PM on January 12, 2007

I also like Muir Glen (and I think they're organic too).
posted by B-squared at 6:31 PM on January 12, 2007

See this chowhound thread too.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:47 PM on January 12, 2007

One more vote for Muir Glen.

If you aren't looking for sweet another time, try the "fire-roasted" variety..mmmmm....
posted by briank at 6:55 PM on January 12, 2007

san marzano are good. also, if you can find canned cherry tomatoes, that makes a nice, light and sweet sauce.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 7:50 PM on January 12, 2007

Don't know if they're full of extras, but the Trader Joe's house brand crushed tomatoes are pleasantly tangy without tasting too acidic or sharp, more so than the Tutto Rosso and San Marzano my wife usually keeps on hand (she doesn't like the Trader Joe's, so I indulge infrequently) - We've got a bunch of the Muir Glen in the cupboard at the moment, I find it a bit mild but it may be what your looking for in terms of sweet.

Check labels carefully - some brands say "Italian tomatoes" with the Italian flag and all that nonsense but in tiny letters it says "packed in New Jersey."

I know what you're saying, but I must point out that New Jersey has some fantastic tomatoes (and corn oh goodness the corn! Jersey Sweet corn makes August divine).
posted by jalexei at 9:02 PM on January 12, 2007

Oh my god, does Trader Joe's have the crushed tomatoes again??? Those are WONDERFUL. I haven't seen them in the stores in years.
posted by occhiblu at 9:05 PM on January 12, 2007

Oh my god, does Trader Joe's have the crushed tomatoes again??? Those are WONDERFUL. I haven't seen them in the stores in years.

We haven't had them in a while, I hope they're still around - Yikes, I'd better get over there tomorrow.
posted by jalexei at 9:22 PM on January 12, 2007

Don't get my hopes up only to dash them :-(

I used to buy the Trader Joe's crushed tomatoes exclusively. About five years ago, the Boston stores, at least, stopped carrying them; the managers said they had some problem with the distributor or something. I haven't seen them since.
posted by occhiblu at 9:54 PM on January 12, 2007

I made pizza several times following this guy's method. His advice is to rinse tinned tomatoes in a sieve to reduce/remove the tinned-bitter flavour. And it worked. That may be a good stopgap solution if you can't find good tomatoes where you are.

*looks at wilting mess of blight in summer garden and cries*
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:24 PM on January 12, 2007

One word on crushed tomatoes: sometimes they have puree added (which adds a cooked, not fresh, flavor). Read the label before buying. The ones that are exclusively packed in juice are whole and chopped.

As far as fresh and sweet, Muir Glen is the brand to go with.
posted by JLobster at 11:24 PM on January 12, 2007

There is a law that forces cans of whole peeled tomatoes from italy to be packed in puree; whereas w.p.t.s from the US are packed in juice. This degrades the flavor of italian brands. For that reason, i sometimes prefer american brands. (Jersey tomatoes are really good, btw.) You really have to try each brand.
posted by about_time at 1:05 AM on January 13, 2007

I usually use Italian canned tomatoes; to me, American brands (Hunt's, Contadina) can taste too sweet. So if sweet is what you want, you might want to go with the big brands.
posted by wryly at 4:16 AM on January 13, 2007

Muir Glen.

They're also the top pick for America's Test Kitchen.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:01 AM on January 13, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. So much great feedback, I'll have to try making three small batches using the top choices (Pomi, Muir Glen, and San Marzano).

Joe's_spleen thanks for the pizza link...totally what I'm going for.
posted by Yukon at 9:43 AM on January 13, 2007

I used to buy the Trader Joe's crushed tomatoes exclusively. About five years ago, the Boston stores, at least, stopped carrying them; the managers said they had some problem with the distributor or something.

We shop at the Brookline Trader Joe's - I can't believe it's been 5-ish years since I had them last, but I won't argue with you. I'll bet my wife had something to do with it...
posted by jalexei at 11:26 AM on January 13, 2007

Cook's Illustrated frequently says Hunt and Progreso are the best. I recommend giving Hunt's a try. We were surprised at how good it was.
posted by Amizu at 8:31 AM on January 14, 2007

I keep an eye out for real San Marzanos on sale at big grocery stores (they're expensive, so they'll occasionally run a special to get people to actually buy the things). When I need something more reliably frugal, I get Cento whole Italian tomatoes, and crush them by hand for sauce.

I occasionally bought the Trader Joe tomatoes back when they still stocked them, but they weren't very good.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:32 AM on January 14, 2007

Oh, and as a general tip, always check the ingredients. The crappier brands tend to include tomato puree, sugar, salt, acid, calcium chloride, and other such additives. The better-tasting tomatoes will be just whole tomatoes (and often basil as well).
posted by rxrfrx at 9:34 AM on January 14, 2007