San Marzano tomato
Plum tomato from Campania with PDO protection.
This plum tomato, a type from Italy’s Campania region, is prized for its taste and suitability for canning. Its cultivation falls under a European PDO certification, which safeguards its authenticity.
Quick Facts
- Maturity
- 85 days
- Height
- 1.8 m / 5 ft 11 in
- Weight
- 110 g / 0.243 lb
- Vine
- Indeterminate
- Leaf
- Regular leaf
- Shape
- Plum
Facts from the source article.
Description
San Marzano tomatoes are longer and more tapered than Romas, with denser flesh, fewer seeds, and a richer, sweeter, less tangy flavor. These indeterminate vines have a longer growing period than most paste varieties, so they thrive in warmer climates. As an open-pollinated heirloom, the plant reliably produces identical offspring, making seed saving easy for growers.
Commercial production and use
Heirloom plant conservationist Amy Goldman Fowler called the San Marzano the most important industrial tomato of the 20th century; its commercial introduction in 1926 provided canneries with a sturdy, flawless subject and breeders with genes they would raid for decades. Seeds are available worldwide. Canned San Marzanos grown in the Valle del Sarno in compliance with Italian law can be classified as pomodoro di San Marzano dell'agro sarnese-nocerino and bear the EU PDO emblem. Most are grown in Italy, with smaller commercial production elsewhere. Due to premium pricing, fraudulent product is a problem; in 2010, Italian Carabinieri confiscated 1470 tonnes of improperly labelled canned tomatoes worth €1.2 million. Along with pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio, they are the only tomatoes allowed for vera pizza napoletana.
Origins
San Marzano tomatoes originated in the small town of San Marzano sul Sarno, in the province of Salerno, near Naples, Italy, and were first grown in volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. One story holds that the first seed came to Campania in 1770 as a gift from the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples and was planted in the area of San Marzano sul Sarno. In the United States, the Roma tomato is a cross between a San Marzano and two other varieties, introduced by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in 1955.
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