Both Italians and Chinese use tomatoes as part of noodle dishes, but the exact structure of these dishes is considerably different. Italian noodles, known as pasta, are known for their strong, earthy taste, one that is paired well with tomato sauce and tomatoes in general.
Raw, cooked, pureed or stuffed, the Italians have made this fruit a centrepiece of their cuisine. Learn to cook with our organic grown tomatoes at Tuscookany.
Whether it's a scarlet-slicked pizza or a red-sauced spaghetti al pomodoro, Italy's most instantly recognizable dishes both include tomato. Even the emoji for pasta isn't just pasta – it's a steaming plate of spaghetti heaped with tomato sauce on top.
The fruit became popular in part because of its ability to flavor food, no small matter at a time when spices were expensive and hard to find. By the 18th century, Italians had begun experimenting with tomato conservation methods.
While the tomato may not be indigenous to Italy, it's firmly placed itself at the center of traditional Italian cuisine, and it's one of the flavors we most know and love from Italy.
The salty soil and water in this area give this variety of tomato a flavour rarely matched by other varieties. This tomato is at its best when still shot with green; the perfect Marinda tomatoes has a dark green 'shoulder', a fairly thick, heavily ridged skin with a firm pulp and crunch.”
Simply known as San Marzano – The King of Tomatoes is one of Italy's most popular varieties. It has an intense flavor, thick flesh, and low acidity that make it perfect for creating rich tomato sauces. It is said to have fewer seeds than other varieties, which makes them easier to prepare.
Never refrigerate a tomato, not even after the tomato is ripe. Refrigerating kills the flavor, the nutrients and the texture of Italy's most beloved ingredient.
Peeled tomatoes are a very widely used preservation method in the Italian tradition, including in home cooking. They are prepared in high summer when the tomatoes are fully ripe, allowing them to be enjoyed year round.
According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tomatoes.
Tomatoes reached Italy in 1548, where they were given a chilly-but-curious reception at first due to their unusual qualities. They were initially associated with eggplants, another foreign vegetable that had been introduced to Europe from abroad, in this case from the Middle East.
As glass jars became more widely available, however, Italians began preserving their tomatoes by filling jars with their homegrown produce and submerging them in boiling water for sterilization. This process, known as “bain-marie,” is still used today.
Cherry tomatoes are just like cherries, you would eat them like candies. The most famous cherry tomato in Italy is pomodoro di Pachino Igp, from the east coast of Sicily. Not as sweet as the datterini, cherry tomatoes are just as versatile.
In Italy, tomatoes and tomato sauces are cheap because the retailers buy them for a very cheap price from farmers, and/or the companies that processed the tomatoes and packaged them. They are cheap because retailers have most of the negotiating power and very often get to decide their own buying price.
What did the Italians eat before knowing that tomatoes existed? Meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, eggs, cheese, bread, pasta, etc.
ROMA TOMATOES
The Roma tomato is the very essence of Italian tomatoes, is the perfect ingredient for stews, sauces and tomato paste.
In the late 1700s, a large percentage of Europeans feared the tomato. A nickname for the fruit was the “poison apple” because it was thought that aristocrats got sick and died after eating them, but the truth of the matter was that wealthy Europeans used pewter plates, which were high in lead content.
Italian cooks make this sauce with unpeeled fresh tomatoes or canned ones, passing it through a food mill once it's cooked. My preference is for a more rustic juicy sauce with bits of tomato, so I roughly chop it in a blender or food processor. Only if the fresh tomatoes' peels are tough or bitter do I peel them.
In fact, the tomato was sometimes misidentified as a new type of eggplant by 16th-century botanists, who therefore certainly knew it wasn't poisonous. When the tomato started to circulate throughout Italy, it was so foreign that Italians weren't even sure which part of the plant was meant to be eaten.
Bananas grow in hot climates, so they are unused to the cold. If they're kept at a cold temperature, the enzymes that enable them to ripen are inhibited. And as those enzymes become inactive, other enzymes operate more efficiently. Some cause cell damage, while others (browning enzymes) cause the skin to blacken.
August is the month in which all the summer fruits and vegetables hit maximum maturity and flavor levels. Take your pick but remember that tomatoes and eggplants reign supreme. In August they are both packed with flavor – none of that weak, watery, off-season taste – and each fill the menus around the country.
They are prized in Italy and across the world for their thick flesh and sweet flavour. The tomatoes also have a lower water content and fewer seeds than some others, which makes them a great choice for canning and using whole in rich tomato pasta and pizza sauces.
If you thought that the Italian word for tomato would sound like the English or the Spanish tomate, think again: the word is actually pomodoro (masculine, plural: pomodori)!
San Marzano tomatoes are longer and thinner than the Roma, and have a stronger, sweeter flavour and are most notably grown in San Marzano sul Sarno, Italy (near Naples) - some of the first San Marzano tomatoes were originally grown in nutrient-rich volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.