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Italy's love affair with the tomato began in the 1500's after it was brought
back to Europe from the New World. Seeds planted in the volcanic soil of Mount
Vesuvius in the area around Naples soon produced the "world standard" for
quality in tomatoes. Within less than 100 years tomatoes became a staple in the
Italian diet as well as a major crop in southern Europe.
Still today, Italian tomatoes are considered the best tomatoes in the world. In
Italy tomatoes are harvested only when they are ripe. This creates a canned
tomato that retains its color and has an intense ripe flavor. Also, since the
tomato is picked ripe and processed the same day, it requires less cooking time
to create the world's tastiest sauces.
Some gourmet cooks demand San Marzano variety tomatoes. San Marzano variety
tomatoes are grown exclusively in the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino area of Italy. San
Marzano tomatoes are a variety of plum tomatoes that have less seeds and water
than round tomatoes and are perfectly suited for cooking. The other major
varieties of plum tomatoes are Roma and Hi-Peel, which are also grown in the
same area.
San Marzano Tomatoes, however, are a very old variety, extremely limited in
quantity grown and produced. Because production is so very limited, the Italian
Government and the European Union have formed a way of protecting consumers
from fraud by having San Marzano tomatoes tightly controlled. DOP or
denomination of protected origin is the mechanism that the government is using
to tightly control the production and marketing of genuine San Marzano
tomatoes. Labels for DOP product must be individually numbered and manually
applied to each and every can in specific lots and government officials must
oversee this application. Unless a product has a DOP number and label it is not
a San Marzano tomato.
Tomatoes are at the heart of Italian cooking and no one does tomatoes better
than Luigi Vitelli. After all, Vitelli has been importing Italian tomatoes
since 1885! Today you can count on Luigi Vitelli for all of your tomato needs.
Whether classic Italian Peeled Tomatoes, San Marzano DOP, Baby Italian Cherry
tomatoes or Crushed, Vitelli has a tomato suited to every recipe.
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