My Quest for Ingredients

[LeeB]

Well this past Monday, "Presidents Day"  I decided to make the rounds in the North Dallas area for the elusive 6-in-1 crushed tomatos.  I went to different Krogers, Albertsons, Tom Thumb, Central Market, Whole Foods and none had any.  They all had pretty much the same stuff, "Hunts", "Heinz", "Contadina", "Progresso", and their own store brand.  So I'm resolved that I won't find that brand here unless there is some little Mom & Pop market that might have them.  I did find a new Krogers that had the San Marzano brand, pretty pricey though.

I have tried Contadina and wasn't too jazzed with that brand.  My last batch, and sorry I forgot the name but was some premium crushed tomato in Albertsons that I thought was pretty good.  I guess my next batch I'll try Progresso, haven't tried that brand yet.

Also when I was looking for stuff I checked on the flour types too and it looks like it is KA bread or Gold Medal bread flour are my only choices, I'm sure those are fairly equal too.

[Pete-zza]

LeeB,

For a large city, Dallas and its environs is a pizza-deprived area. Like you, I have scoured all the major food stores and haven't been able to find anything that I would like to use, except that Central Market and Whole Foods have good cheese sections. Central Market sells only the fake San Marzanos (grown in the U.S.)--at least the last time I was there. No one that I can tell sells the 6-in-1s, so I buy them online from Escalon. The last time I got the real DOP San Marzanos I ordered from a place in Providence, RI. No one around here sells Grande either. I asked Whole Foods to stock some or order some for me, but my request went unanswered. The only decent flours I have been able to find is the KA bread flour and the KA A-P flour (at a nearby Tom Thumb), both of which are among the very best. Almost nothing I use for pizzas comes from the Dallas area, other than the cheeses. I almost forgot the Mozzarella Cheese Company, in Deep Ellum. They have good mozzarella cheese, even though it is pricey.

It's all disappointing and discouraging.

Peter

[duckjob]

Just a question, what does DOP mean? From your post I am assuming that it is a product grown in italy. I looked at my cans of San Marzano's the labels are all in italian, would these be DOP?

[Pete-zza]

duckjob,

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

[LeeB]

Well I took it a step further and emailed the 6 In 1 folks and told them my dilema in trying to find their product in the DFW area.  They were real nice and said that basically they only sell to the foodservice industry and she put me in contact with the southwestern sale rep.  He too said that the 28 oz. version is not to be had in this area.  So now I can quit looking.  They both recommened what the rest of you guys are doing and purchase from their website.