Has anyone tried Vantia Tomatos?

[WOMBAT]

I just ordered some Vantia tomatoes does anybody have a review of these?

also check out this link
http://www.pmq.com/mag/2004july_august/newyork.php

[scott r]

There are a couple different kinds of vantia.  I recently did a taste test including the non DOP San Marzano's, and they were not my favorites.  The DOP San Marzano's are used by Di Fara's, and a lot of people seem to love that pizzaria.

[WOMBAT]

Noob question I am sure but what is DOP?

[Pete-zza]

WOMBAT,

I cut and pasted the following from an earlier posting on the subject:

DOP stands for Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or denomination of protected origin, signifying that the tomatoes are the San Marzano "varietal" and associated with a particular area, and otherwise comply with the many detailed standards set forth by the Italian government. Each can of San Marzano tomatoes with the designation DOP will have a special numbered label, and will indicate the region around Naples where the tomatoes were grown, such as the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino region, which has volcanic soil where the best San Marzano tomatoes are believed to be grown. If the label doesn't have the DOP designation but are labelled San Marzanos, they most likey were grown outside of the protected region. This doesn't necessarily mean that the San Marzanos without the DOP label are not a quality product. They are usually quite good, just not the best.

Peter

[scott r]

Wombat, this is nothing new here, so you have probably found info on other threads, but if you want the best of the best stick with La Regina (thanks Peter!) for San Marzano's, and Escalon 6 in 1 for plum's.  I like them both equally for different reasons, and a blend is amazing. These tomatoes are so much better than anything else I have found that I can even get away with just opening up a can and putting them straight on the pizza.  Just a touch of seasoning can do wonders.  The crazy thing is, I used to buy a shopping bag full of fresh roma tomatoes, blanch them to get the skin off, and make fresh sauce from scratch.  It took forever.  Now I can pretty much get a sauce just as good with cans.  It doesn't taste quite as "fresh", but it almost has a better flavor. Di Fara's does a blend of Vantia, and fresh.

Also, in an earlier post, I made it sound like I had taste tested the Vantia DOP as well as the non DOP Vantia San Marzano's.  Actually I have only had the non DOP Vantia.  Has anyone out there been able to compare the DOP Vantia, and the La Regina?