Are San Marzano Tomatoes actually worth it?

in today's video I want to solve a problem I've been wondering about for years or expensive canned tomatoes actually worth it and is there an overall best one or is there a certain canned tomato that may have diminishing returns so I bought six different cans of tomatoes at varying price points ingredients growing locations and tomato varieties and ran them through three different tests so we can get to the bottom of this and my entire reason for doing this video is because I like many of you have way too many questions every time I walk down the Tomato aisle for example do I get diced or whole peeled Tomatoes or seven dollar dop certified San Marzano's actually that much better than a San Marzano style tomato and what does San Marzano style even mean in the first place or maybe you have questions like should I be avoiding tomatoes with calcium chloride on the ingredient list and finally are tomatoes grown and imported from Italy just inherently better than ones grown in the US not to mention there's just some devious marketing tactics used nowadays if you take a quick glance at this can you may think these Must Be Santa Marzano tomatoes that are imported from Italy but that actually couldn't be further from the truth once you zoom into the fine print you'll realize it says sand American tomato and it's grown and packed in the United States not to mention once you take a look at the actual tomato inside you'll realize it's a round roma tomato that looks nice nothing like the logo now this is not to say it's inherently a bad tomato but it seems like they're definitely trying to trick you into pain more than maybe you should anyway my goal at the end of this video is to arm you with all the knowledge and terms you need to know so you can strut down the grocery aisle know exactly what every canned tomato is offering and make a confident purchasing decision for the best pasta or butter chicken you can imagine also I hope some of you try the taste test experiments for yourself because it's honestly just a lot of fun trying to figure out which canned tomatoes that you happen to like the best but before we break everything down let me thank today's sponsor Geico who also know a thing or two about saving money and making a confident purchasing decision we'll talk a bit more about Geico later but now let's go into why we chose the particular cans for testing so let's welcome in the candidates here are the six cans that will be run through the testing during this video first we have the generic store brand at a dollar and forty cents the questionable marketing San American tomato at 4.68 a high-end Bianco DiNapoli as showcased on chef's table at 5.99 then we have the San Marzano style tomato at 5.79 the third party certified San Marzano tomato at 4.69 and lastly what many call the Holy Grail the dop certified San Marzano tomato clocking in at six dollars and 30 cents now I didn't just pick the first six cans I saw when walking down the grocery aisle I actually combed through about 15 or so before deciding on these six for a specific reason because they should give us a fairly holistic view at the canned tomato landscape and your first question might be why only whole peeled tomatoes so on a sliding scale of lease process to most processed these are the typical options at the grocery store we have whole peeled diced crushed pureed and then tomato paste which is going to be a cook down and concentrated version now for purposes of this video I chose to focus in on the whole peeled Tomatoes form factor for two reasons one it's the most regulated and secondly it's the most versatile for home Cooks because these are the most regulated in theory this should lead to more consistency in flavor and texture because Packers are generally going to save their ripest and most attractive tomatoes for the whole peeled cans while the Lesser ones are probably going to be used in the paste and purees additionally the ingredients and terms are fairly easy to compare and should also be applicable to say a diced tomato or puree from the same brand then in terms of Versatility whole peeled Tomatoes can obviously be used whole if needed but we can also just dice crush or puree them at home if we please next let's take a look at the location and tomato variety of these cans because it's actually pretty interesting once you start pulling them out of the can here is one tomato from each of the six cans and as you can see they come in varying shapes and sizes but what I found very interesting is that these are actually all Plum tomato varieties which then led me to wonder why are plum tomatoes used for canning take a look at this picture in General compared to other varieties plum tomatoes like the San Marzano are going to have more tomato flesh fewer seeds and lower water content which is ideal for those cooking sauces and the elongated Plum shape of a San Marzano means it's almost entirely tomato flesh with a low proportion of seeds and watery juice unlike those other examples what's even more cool is how many Plum tomato varietals there are as evidenced by this chart from Johnny's select seeds and each of them are going to be just a little bit different in terms of taste texture and the flesh to seed ratio now from what I've been able to find there's really just three primary varietibles that you'll typically find in the cans at the grocery store first is the Roma which is generally going to be used if it's unspecified such as the generic store brand and the sand American ones second we have the San Marzano this is the official San Marzano tomato seed as used by the Cento brand and Dio peat cert tomatoes and then lastly we have a Sam Marzano style which is going to be very similar but is some type type of seed offshoot from the original now if you've ever wondered about what tomato varieties are best most articles or videos will immediately direct you to a San Marzano variety which led me to wonder why of all the plum varieties did the San Marzano tomato get so popular the two main arguments are that one these are sweeter and less acidic than other canned tomatoes and secondly this is the gold standard for the meaty flesh to seed ratio now we'll get to the sweeter and less acidic argument in just a second with our taste test but first let's take a look under the hood I sliced open each tomato down the line and here they are and I'll let you decide but while cutting them it definitely seemed like the Roma varieties let out more tomato water than the four San Marzano types and this could affect both The Taste and texture of the sauce that I cook but before I do that I wanted to do a raw taste test of each can so I'll be the first to admit this taste test is probably not going to be the most useful one in this video but I'm personally very curious how these actually taste raw after I pulled them apart especially from not only a taste perspective but also texture because some of these are very very firm to the the touch so I'm curious how that comes through when I actually bite in them raw and then later on once we actually get in to the cooking so what I'm going to do is pop a blindfold on I'm going to have Gabe switch all these around so you guys will know which ones are which but I won't while I'm taste testing so I'll see you in like two seconds all I'll notice is that the seeds I noticed on that one at the end [Music] oh wow all right that was pretty different the texture I think was the big thing I noticed this one tasted like less like canned tomatoes I guess I would say [Music] again way softer on the texture compared to the first one like I'd put that about on par with number two three might have been a little bit more acidic than number two though texture on that one not my favorite texture was good I like the texture like definitely the softer feel but yeah I didn't like that one felt a little bit acidic a little bit more acidic a little bit firmer texture too so I think like of these before I look at them I think yeah number two is probably my favorite if I had to guess right now just a little bit sweeter softer texture three was also pretty good so outside of maybe using the canned tomatoes for a salsa or like a raw pizza sauce using neapolitan pizza this might not be the most applicable test but I'm glad I did it because I kept noticing this kind of off-putting texture when I was handling and actually tasting them and that was from the Roma tomatoes now Roma tomatoes might be a little firmer than a San Marzano in general but these were like weirdly firm and I found that this is likely the result of adding one ingredient to these cans and that is calcium chloride calcium chloride is a common firming agent used in a variety of canned vegetables and for the tomatoes it's going to help keep them intact during packing but also during cooking now obviously I can just blend up Tomatoes before cooking and so maybe the firming agent isn't a big deal if I want a really smooth sauce but the real question for me is does the calcium chloride affect the taste however before I jump into that taste test this is also a good time to bring up all the potential ingredients that can be listed on a can of tomatoes because sometimes it's as few as two or three or it can go all the way up to five or six these are one the Tomato varietal secondly tomato juice or puree that is used to pack around the tomatoes then we have salt calcium chloride citric acid and flavoring such as a Basil Leaf now salt is pretty obvious we touched on what calcium chloride does but what does citric acid do citric acid is added to ensure the pH of canned tomatoes is safe for canning and additionally tomatoes are going to naturally vary in PH depending on the variety and ripeness so adding that citric acid allows Brands to ensure consistent pH across the batches which could would have an effect on Flavor so I actually got a pH meter for this video and pureed each can of tomatoes and then took the pH for each batch now all of them ended up being within a tenth or two of each other but the Italian Imports were consistently less acidic on the pH scale now I don't know if I would start reading too much into this pH test because I don't really know what a tenth of a point on the pH scale really equates to taste wise like I don't know if that's something we can perceive every time because I think the Bianco one ended up being lower on the pH scale from this meter but when I was actually tasting it raw I noted that it was kind of sweeter however pH aside there is one other variable worth noting and that is where the Tomato variety is actually grown for example will the exact same tomato grown from the same seed taste different if it's grown in a different location well if you ask Italy they're gonna say yes which is why they have the dop certification found on the can and this dop certification means that the tomatoes were used in the specific San Marzano seed type and were also grown in a specific location that has proximity to Mount Vesuvius also it's important to note that just because something tastes different doesn't mean it's inherently better like it could be true that San marzanos are sweeter overall but you may not like sweet tomatoes in your tomato sauce so that's why it's actually important to go through the testing and hopefully you can see now why I decided to choose these six cans because it not only gives us a variety of the Tomato type it gives us a variety of where these tomatoes are grown and the ingredients that were added so with that being said let's get into what I think is the most important test for me Nat is making my favorite tomato sauce I made six identical batches of Marcella zones three ingredient sauce which ended up being 300 grams of the Blended Tomatoes 25 grams of unsalted butter 1 8 of an onion and 2 grams of salt additionally these were all cooked in the same exact pot set on a 30 minute timer at a consistent 205 degrees Fahrenheit on the Breville control freak which is the absolute most consistent I could possibly replicate at home I also ensured that the temperatures were roughly the same at tasting perfect all of these right in between 90 to 95 degrees which should be like the perfect temperature for me to fully taste differences so I'm going to have Gabe mix these up we're going to put the you know the classic Tick Tock like Coke thing over the top and then actually compare and contrast and see if there's differences in terms of both taste and texture all right let's get into this it's good texture really nice on that one nice and thick those very very similar I would say right now this one a little bit better I like the texture a little bit a little bit thicker this one also is a nice really nice mouth feel as well but let's go down the line [Music] noticeably thinner also a little bit more acidic I would say it's kind of tough to tell the differences um this was the one I think in terms of taste that one much more similar to these two maybe a little bit sweeter on this one too this one tastes noticeably noticeably more sour not like sour I mean more acidic for sure and it also like this still tastes like canned tomatoes it doesn't taste like a nicely cooked sauce also a little bit on the thinner side so I think this one and this one were on the thinner side which I'm not a big fan of for tomato sauce that one is really nice and mellow I think it's these two are my least favorite they're noticeably thinner and more sour especially this one tastes very much like it's got like a canned taste these taste all really good these four um this one's okay again I think I need to try this in a coordination of one of these to see what we can go yeah this one's definitely like nice and sweet rounded out mellow edges this one is also sweet but it don't it tastes like very like tomatoey this almost tastes like if I added like tomato paste to this that's what how like tomatoey this one tastes I'm a big fan of that one coming back to this one this is noticeably more sour than these two I would say but still very good not as sour as that one all right so quick recap before I look at them these these two I would say are the most similar in terms of like these are the most the more sweeter and like kind of mellowed out ones but I like this one a little bit better because it still tastes more tomatoey to me than this one does I think it's these two are the more acidic and uh like sour ones this one especially I'm not a fan of and then this one and this one I would say are both a little bit more acidic than these two um if I were to pick though I would 100 go with any of these four would be perfectly fine for me so while I like the Tomato forwardness of the delalo San Marzano style the best that's not actually my main takeaway my main takeaway is how much these four cans were an upgrade from these two and these were the only Aromas these were the San Marzano and the San Marzano style however I don't think that is the only reason why these ones were so much better the two canned tomatoes that I really was not a fan of well yes they are a roma tomato are also the only cans that have calcium chloride added and they are also the only cans that were packed in a watery tomato juice if you take a look at the ingredient label of the generic San American Bianco and delallo Brands they all list tomato juice on the can while the Centro and San marzanos both say tomato puree so you would think that these four cans should be packed in a similar viscous liquid but that's actually not the case once you open up each can and take a look the Bianco and delallo brands are actually hacked in a noticeably thicker puree just like the San Marzano varieties while the generic and San American is basically all tomato water now this is important for two reasons one a puree-like substance has more tomato flavor than a watery liquid and secondly it's going to cook down into a thicker sauce instead of a watery one and this was something I noticed immediately in the test since I cooked these sauce for 30 minutes the four cans with the puree-like substance were noticeably thicker and in my opinion just creates a flat out better texture now to avoid this obviously you could cook your sauce down more or like pour off some of that tomato juice in there but then you're kind of wasting what you paid for and you end up with less sauce than what you would get from one of the cans that are packed in the tomato puree so after this test my main takeaway is to avoid cans with calcium chloride and a watery tomato juice but the story can't end here because we've only tested this on a basic tomato sauce and I'm one wondering are these flavors that I did not like in this sauce still going to be prevalent in a heavily spiced dish now I could have done chili shakshuka or countless options for this test but I personally was in the mood for some butter chicken now this is in no way a super traditional recipe but I made a quick spice mix with one part garam masala one part turmeric one third part garlic powder a third part coriander a half part cayenne powder and one part cumin then I threw some chicken breast on the skillet that was marinated in yogurt and that spice mix and once that was cooked I prepped six identical batches of sauce I took 100 grams of the cooked tomato sauce added 2 grams of the spice mix 5 grams of butter and 50 grams of heavy cream before mixing that up and letting it bubble lastly I tossed in 50 grams of the cooked chicken and stew that down for just two or three minutes again I try to keep the temperature right around 120 degrees Fahrenheit for eating and these are the main questions I had before coming into this taste test one are the two acidic and metal tasting cans still noticeable and secondly will I like the same can for this test or is there going to be a new canned tomato that is best suited for this particular use case before the final taste test thank you again to Geico for sponsoring today's episode I'm partnering with Geico this year to explore how you can save both time and money in the kitchen so check out the link below to see all the ways that you could switch and save with Geico but lastly let's see how those Tomatoes stack up in the butter chicken test all right everybody now time for some butter chicken not really a super authentic recipe just kind of threw it together real quick but this is another use case that I would do all the time at home and I'm really curious to see if especially the bottom two that I didn't like as much if those flavors still carry through into something with a lot of you know heavy cream and spices added so I'm gonna have Gabe mixing up for me I'm gonna blindfold and then we'll give them a taste test okay let's just start on the left [Music] foreign [Music] much like smoother a little bit mellower too which I like [Music] that one tasted a little more tomato tomatoey I would say a little more tomato forward I also like this one a lot too mellower I didn't get a piece of chicken though that one's good I like that one I think four yeah four and two I think are my favorite so far [Music] that one's definitely mellower too I like that one [Music] noticeably more acidic I think this is the most acidic two is like nice and mellow and creamy it almost feels like there's more heavy cream in it but I know there's not like I literally waited out to 50 grams exactly on all of these this one's really nice too but it's more tomato forward it's not as acidic as as the out ones but more that one's also really nice two and four I think are my favorites one in six are acidic I think this was probably my least favorite six like it's pretty tarte three is pretty good too so two was sento four was delalos which delala was my top one from the other five was good d.o.p and then yeah the mer the American and the generic so again these two definitely were outliers I think like I definitely didn't like these I mean they're acidic but not nearly as tinny like I wouldn't describe them as like that tinny aluminum can which I did get in the earlier test um so I don't feel like that came through but they're definitely significantly more sour than these four again I'm probably putting these in like the bottom category two and four were just really like especially two I don't know what Y2 just like tasted so much better this time around but all four in the middle very very good option so I think to round up this video let's get up a little table you guys can look and hopefully figure out what type of canned tomatoes you want to buy so in conclusion I hope you realize I didn't want to make this video about identifying a specific brand as the best overall because as you can see it kind of depends on what you're going for for example I could totally make the case that I have a can of the Bianco on hand for a raw application like neapolitan pizza I keep delallo brand style tomato forwardness for my pasta sauces or cooked pizza sauces and then maybe I keep a can of the Cento on hand for the butter chicken or a cream based sauce like pasta a la vodka what I wanted to do is understand all the terms and knowledge around tomato types growing locations and how added ingredients can affect the taste so we can confidently make an informed purchasing decision and with that being said here is how I would recommend shopping for canned tomatoes take a look at the ingredient list and one avoid cans with calcium chloride added secondly look for cans packed in tomato puree or if it says tomato juice sometimes it may be thicker than you actually think so you're going to need to open it up and see third look for cans with the plum varietal specified such as a San Marzano or San Marzano style and lastly I would pick two or three cans and experiment for yourself with a taste test whether it's your favorite tomato sauce chili recipe or butter chicken so I hope you all have enjoyed and let me know down in the comments if you have topics or ingredients for me to explore in a similar type video because I honestly just have a lot of fun doing them and I learn a lot and hopefully you do too that's going to wrap it up for me in this one I will catch you all on the next one peace y'all [Music] thank you

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 2,815,415

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, san marzano tomatoes, canned tomatoes, best canned tomato, what is the best canned tomato, san marzano tomato sauce, canning tomatoes, pasta sauce, san marzano pizza sauce, san marzano tomatoes growing, san marzano tomato plants, pasta sauce recipe, pasta sauce at home, tomato sauce, pasta sauce with tomato paste, pasta sauce from scratch, san marzano tomato sauce recipe from scratch

Id: mMMFUKibW-c

Length: 23min 52sec (1432 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 14 2022