Mutti San Marzano peeled tomatoes, 6x 400g

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The sauce is delicious, but it doesn’t taste quite as good as a traditional Neapolitan pizza sauce. I think the two main problems are that it’s not made from the best tomatoes (don’t get me wrong, they are great, but not the best), and that the basil is not fresh. For over 120 years, Mutti have been working hard to ‘raise the tomato to its highest expression’ and celebrate Italy’s most iconic fruit. These tomatoes came out of the can a vivid red color—exactly what you want for making marinara sauce or pizza sauce. The Alessi tomatoes were a bit softer than other options we tried, but for sauces where you really want the tomato to break down and melt into the mixture, that’s ideal. Additionally, these tomatoes weren’t oversweet—another great feature for cooked sauces.

San Marzano and DOP: These terms are sometimes conflated. San Marzano tomatoes, which are prized for their mellow flavor, can be grown anywhere. Certain San Marzano tomatoes are certified DOP, which guarantees that they’ve been grown, processed, and canned in a specific geographical zone in Italy. As our tests show, neither term is necessarily an indicator of flavor or quality. These tomatoes had a very rich red color—essential for homemade tomato soup. Flavor-wise, testers remarked on how Mutti tomatoes walked the line between acidic and savory, and that’s exactly the quality you’re looking for in the tomatoes in your soups and chilis. A touch of acid plays well with other veggies in soups like minestrone, while the savory notes are really what makes homemade chili so homey. Cirio (400g): 95p “Not bad actually cooked,” observered Dino “but over-pasteurised”. These are sweet, with a rich colour and some acidity. Available in most supermarkets. Score: 3.5/10 Whole tomatoes are gently steamed and peeled before being immersed in a smooth velvety passata. These tomatoes have a delicate flavour and a firm and fleshy texture which remains even after long and slow cooks. They are extremely versatile – use them whole, sliced, chopped, crushed or blitzed depending on your recipe. I have great experience with their canned San Marzano tomatoes, that I use for my own pizza sauce. So I’m familiar with Mutti, and their products. I therefore believed this would be a really interesting pizza sauce to try. Mutti Pizza Sauce IngredientsEven though the sauce is made from fresh, quality tomatoes, it can’t live up to the standard of San Marzano tomatoes. The can doesn’t state what kind of tomatoes are used, but I suspect it’s a cheaper type of plum tomatoes, despite the price of the sauce being as high, or even higher than, canned San Marzano tomatoes.

Tarantella: (400g) 85p These have a nice, deep, red colour. Joe and Dino declared them “just above average”. Available from Morrisons. Score: 3/10In our quest for perfection, Joe sacrificed four tins from his precious collection. Dino chaperoned two tinned and two jarred tomatoes. I brought the rest, a mix of tinned tomatoes from online delicatessens and supermarkets. Napolina, Waitrose own brand, Heinz, Mr Organic and La Tarantella, all of which can be found in high-street grocers, didn’t score badly but paled in taste beside brands imported from Italy. In general, the standard was higher than we expected, although Ocado’s unpleasant own-brand offering was dubbed “a crime against humanity” by Joe. Joe’s years of tomato tasting had taught him “not to be deceived by trophies, baubles and badges that make them look impressive, when they don’t actually taste so good”. He was inspired. “I’m going to start eating my collection and experimenting,” he proclaimed. Flavor: How did the tomatoes taste? Did they taste fresh? Did they have that distinctive San Marzano flavor: sweet and not too acidic? Are there any other additional tastes coming through—good or bad? Mutti pizza sauce can’t completely replace authentic Neapolitan pizza sauce, but it comes pretty close. The flavor is delicious, and it works perfectly on Pizza Margherita. I don’t think you’ll find any better pizza sauce in your local grocery store! Conclusion Lastly, and most importantly, how does it taste on pizza? To try the sauce, I made a classic Pizza margarita with mozzarella and fresh basil.

In fact, the flavor of these tomatoes was so good, you could use them in any recipe where tomatoes are the star. These Hunt’s tomatoes will shine. In 2000, Mutti introduced the Pomodorino d’Oro award (Golden Tomato) to recognise and reward the farmers who supply the highest quality tomatoes whilst using sustainable practices.Each year farmers compete to win this highly coveted prize. The prize includes a trophy and a monetary bonus and the award is an incentive for their suppliers to continuously improve and invest in their produce, which ultimately ensures the products created by Mutti are of the highest quality.Another consistency throughout Mutti’s history and still present in Mutti today is the company values that are evident in everything they do: sustainability, quality and respect. Mutti provides farmers the resources to ensure sustainable farming techniques, such as the use of drip irrigation and soil humidity meters. As well, in 2010, Mutti began a partnership with WWF Italy to reduce the water footprint through the supply chain of the tomato, saving 1 billion litres of water in just four years. Tester after tester remarked that these Italian-style tomatoes from Cento tasted like a satisfying San Marzano tomato plus a little something extra. Of course, our Test Kitchen pros were right on the money: These tomatoes are real San Marzanos canned with a touch of salt and basil.