The San Marzano tomato is truly unique among tomatoes. Its long, thin bulbous shape and fleshier fruit have, for generations, brought Italians together to make passata, a special, pressed form of tomato sauce. They gather when the fruit has ripened under the hot July and August sun, the ideal time for pressing San Marzano passata.
Different in texture from tomato paste and tomato sauce, passata is a rich and chunky sauce sought after by cooks for use in recipes as varied as soups, stews, and pizza toppings.
The Italian word passata translates literally to pass through; the tomatoes are passed through a sieve to remove the seeds and skin. Many use a food mill for sieving while other perhaps more serious canners use a passata machine called a mouli.
In scanning recipes and articles about passata, there appears to be some debate over how authentic passata is made. The debate centers on starting with cooked or uncooked tomatoes, and whether passata should be seasoned or natural. There are certain to be recipes that would benefit from a fresh texture or rich sauce or the hint of basil.
The origin of the San Marzano has been traced from Peru to southern Italy. It has special heirloom status in San Marzano, a commune in southern Italy renown for growing the tomato. You will often find a DOP stamp on cans of San Marzano passata di pomodoro as it also called. DOP stands for Denominacion de Origen Protegida or Protected Denomination of Origin, and is used on when the tomato is grown according to Italian agricultural laws. If you prefer to grow your own, San Marzano tomato seeds are widely available.
At one time, ripe San Marzanos signaled the fare la passata, a widespread ritual that was common in many Italian homes in times past where huge amounts of the tomato were sieved and bottled and stored for future use. Today, with the many and quality commercial offerings of passata on the market, the ritual of canning crates of the tomato is not so widely done.
You have choices when it comes to passata: have your own fare di passata and put up canned passata, or choose from the commercial offerings available at your local supermarket or specialty food store. If you choose to can your own, sterilize the bottles and carefully follow procedures in a canning guide to seal the bottles.
san marzano passata
Different in texture from tomato paste and tomato sauce, passata is a rich and chunky sauce sought after by cooks for use in recipes as varied as soups, stews, and pizza toppings.
The Italian word passata translates literally to pass through; the tomatoes are passed through a sieve to remove the seeds and skin. Many use a food mill for sieving while other perhaps more serious canners use a passata machine called a mouli.
In scanning recipes and articles about passata, there appears to be some debate over how authentic passata is made. The debate centers on starting with cooked or uncooked tomatoes, and whether passata should be seasoned or natural. There are certain to be recipes that would benefit from a fresh texture or rich sauce or the hint of basil.
The origin of the San Marzano has been traced from Peru to southern Italy. It has special heirloom status in San Marzano, a commune in southern Italy renown for growing the tomato. You will often find a DOP stamp on cans of San Marzano passata di pomodoro as it also called. DOP stands for Denominacion de Origen Protegida or Protected Denomination of Origin, and is used on when the tomato is grown according to Italian agricultural laws. If you prefer to grow your own, San Marzano tomato seeds are widely available.
At one time, ripe San Marzanos signaled the fare la passata, a widespread ritual that was common in many Italian homes in times past where huge amounts of the tomato were sieved and bottled and stored for future use. Today, with the many and quality commercial offerings of passata on the market, the ritual of canning crates of the tomato is not so widely done.
You have choices when it comes to passata: have your own fare di passata and put up canned passata, or choose from the commercial offerings available at your local supermarket or specialty food store. If you choose to can your own, sterilize the bottles and carefully follow procedures in a canning guide to seal the bottles.
san marzano passata
