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Franchi - Tomatoes San Marzano Naples

Mentioned on BBC Radio 4's Food Programme 10/6/12. Classic Italian plum tomato from Naples used mainly for cooking as it has very little water inside, few seeds and is very meaty. Use for making Passata, cooking.

Getting into a field of ripe San Marzano tomatoes is a unique experience: you are stunned by the fragrances of freshly cut grass and spices emanated by this tomato also when it is still green and persistent even in the canned product. All aromas reminding of the past, when salads tasted of tomato and sun and did not look like alien imperishable, odourless and flavourless objects. Up to twenty years ago, the very fertile territory around Naples and the sarnese-nocerino countryside in the province of Salerno, particularly suitable for vegetable growing, was mainly farmed with San Marzano tomatoes, a very delicate variety, with a thin skin, which keeps well also after being preserved, but which needs to be handled with care. However, due to diseases and low competitiveness in terms of cultivation costs, more productive hybrids became widespread, as more resistant to diseases and more suitable for mechanized work, but with poorer quality and organoleptic properties. The canning companies producing peeled tomatoes started purchasing these hybrids, thus endangering indigenous San Marzano.San Marzano tomatoes are grown like vines and are harvested seven, eight times or more from July to September, only when perfectly ripe and after sunset. After picking them up, the tomatoes are rinsed with water and put in the cans, then cooked for 13 minutes. Nothing else is needed: no additives, no preservatives. It will keep well for at least one year. The several small artisan firms, mainly employing women, peel the tomatoes. But the real personality of San Marzano is seen in the plate: the sauce made with these tomatoes literally sticks onto pasta and does not release any acidity.The San Marzano tomato is inextricably linked to Neapolitan pizza (Margherita), and is also an ingredient in traditional Neapolitan ragù (meat sauce).

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