On my recent trip to Naples the first thing I noticed about the pizza was how much better the sauce was than what we have grown to accept here in the states. I consider myself to be somewhat of a freak in that I have tried more brands of canned tomatoes than I care to admit. So far my favorite Italian tomatoes are the La Regina brand San Marzanos. Since I am a pizza freak, I of course had to know what the big difference was, and was hoping it was not poor sauce making technique on my part. I can imagine how funny I must have looked to the locals, an obvious American tourist walking the streets of Naples with a can opener in hand, eating raw tomatoes. As soon as I took my first sip of puree, before even biting into a tomato, I was shocked at the natural sweetness and lack of what I have just grown to accept.....tin can taste. Even the texture of the tomatoes was more sturdy and much more similar to a good fresh tomato than what I have found here in the US. Unfortunately after researching every brand of canned tomato that I found in Naples, I am sorry to say that none of them are available here in the US.
Has anyone had better luck than me with finding a brand that tastes like what they have in southern Italy??? I have seen jars of peeled tomatoes at $14 a jar, and am hoping that I will not have to spend that kind of money for what costs a few dollars a case over there.
