Italian Tomatoes: Tracing its Colorful History

If you like to cook Italian food, one of the ingredients that you will have to use and try in a major way are tomatoes. There are thousands of food and different types of dishes that make use of tomatoes as the principal or main ingredients or the basis for the recipes. Tomatoes are used mainly due to its color, flavor and versatility. The tomato is widely utilized all over the world because of the taste and its health benefits.

Tomatoes Everywhere

In case you don't already know, there are many species of this fruit. These tomato fruits are belong to the so-called nightshade family of plants. The plants can normally grow to as high as one to three meters in height. One of its characteristics is that it has weak stem system that regularly spreads all over the earth which is why growers make use of pegs or trellises for it to climb on. This plant is known to be perennial because of its innate habitat. Nevertheless, the plants are often grown outdoors with temperate climates. If you will harvest tomato fruits, you will get an average of 100 to 105 grams in weight.

It was during the 1600s where people started utilizing tomatoes in their dishes. One place in

which tomatoes are widely and extensively used in cooking is in Naples, Italy. The people here have mainly used Italian tomatoes in their cooking and they have been enamored by the bright red hue of this ingredients plus its distinct aroma.

Scientific Enhancements

The Italian tomatoes, which are also called the San Marzano tomatoes is one of the several

varieties of plum tomatoe. Most of the great chefs all over the world are considering this kind of tomato to be the best and ideal tomatoes when it comes to cooking- especially for gourmet foods. The San Marzano tomatoes are characterized by its pointed and thinner appearance in comparison to other tomatoes. The flesh of these plum tomatoes have a much thicker appearance and has fewer seeds. When it comes to taste, it has a stronger, less acidic and sweeter taste. In fact, there are people who describe the taste of this San Marzano tomato as bittersweet.

As the demand for San Marzano tomatoes increased, studies were conducted on it. In the United

States, these San Marzano tomatoes have been subjected to genetic studies which also served as the basis of genes for the creation of another famous paste tomato called the Roma tomato. The Roma tomato is basically a cross breed between the San Marzano one and two other species. One of the two is a variety or hybrid of the San Marzano tomato. This Roma tomato was presented in 1955 by the ARS or the Agricultural Research Service.
 
In Italian food, tomatoes (especially the San Marzano and Roma) are widely used in various dishes especially pasta, salads and soups. There are so many ways to cook tomatoes – it can be used in as it is in salads, in sandwiches, and be made as the main ingredient in cooking gourmet and main courses. The only limit is your imagination!

What Type of Italian Tomatoes Should You Use?

Not all Italian food revolves around tomatoes. It just seems like much of it. Tomatoes have made their mark on Italian cuisine. It has become a very important ingredient in pasta, sauces, and in salads. There are a lot of tomato dishes which make a fairly common appearance in the Italian diet.

There are recipes for tomatoes stuffed with eggplants, or with meat. There are also recipes for cherry tomatoes, not just in salads, but also in pasta dishes and sauces, either whole or chopped. Whole tomatoes are also used in a variety of dishes from meat, pork, poultry and fish. Soups and sauces use tomatoes in its many forms.

Minestrone soup is a basic soup with a variety of vegetables and offal. There is no set recipe, and it can be made with meat or chicken. The base is a bean soup, and all other vegetables are optional. A bit of pasta or rice is also optional. It is a hearty meal in itself, and it is a stock recipe in every Italian kitchen. That is, every Italian mamma has her own minestrone recipe.

To get the most of Italian tomatoes, also called roma tomato, there are several ways of canning
tomatoes:

Whole tomatoes – Tomatoes are cooked, and canned in whole. The tomato is peeled after cooking and then canned immediately.

Tomato filets – tomato filets are tomato slices, without the seeds and the skin.

Tomato chunks – these are large cut tomatoes, crushed unevenly. The can contains most of the tomato sauce and pulp of the tomato
 
Tomato sauce – The tomato is crushed and processed to a fine but thick consistency. Tomato
sauce does not have any lumps, and is good to use for pasta and soups.
Tomato paste – This is tomato processed to a fine consistency and then cooked till is a very
thick consistency. San Marzano is an Italian tomato variety considered to be the best plum
tomato varieties for making tomato paste.

Italian tomatoes are the most common seed variety for home gardens, as well as for home canning. These also known as Italian plum tomatoes and are slightly elongated, egg-shaped varieties with few seeds and are good for canning. Other tomatoes commonly used for Italian food include cherry tomatoes, and Italian heirloom tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are used for salads and for pasta with olive oil type of dishes. The Italian heirloom tomatoes can be used as fresh tomato garnish or for stuffed tomatoes.

Tomatoes are a big part of Italian food, and if possible, Italians use fresh tomatoes. An exception is made for the San Marzano tomato, as this is produced only in the San Marzano region of Italy. In most instances, the only way to get San Marzano is in a can. When using canned whole San Marzano tomatoes, it is recommended to use the canning liquid separately. This can be used for soups or other recipes. The whole peeled San Marzano tomato retains its distinct flavor and used whole in a variety of recipes. Fresh San Marzano tomato is hard to find, but when available is well worth the price.