Can you ever imagine having to eat pizza without tomato sauce. Or even any types of pasta? It is unthinkable. However, in Italy, when it is in the middle of winter, the sauce can only come from canned tomatoes as the tomato fruit is only available to be harvested on summer. Of course there is nothing better than the fresh tomatoes, especially those ones just picked out of their vines.
But when you are living in the areas with long winter, then your only choice would be the canned tomatoes. Therefore, you will need to know about the canned tomatoes and their varieties in order to know best what they can be used for. Among the varieties are the whole, diced and crushed tomatoes.
In the world of canned tomatoes, different brands offer you different products and tastes. Each of them has their own uniqueness. The canned tomatoes are created when their freshness are at the peak. However, as there are so many brands available in the market, moreover, each brand can have more than one variety, then it can be so difficult to tell them apart from each other. If you are a beginner in the canned tomato world, then you may spend more than half an hour in the section only. After all, the canned tomatoes may get one full alley in the supermarkets. Imagine having to choose among those brands and varieties.
To help you understand the varieties, here are some of the explanations:
Whole Tomatoes
Whole tomatoes are actually what the closest one to the fresh tomatoes is. There are actually whole tomatoes in the can, but these tomatoes are already peeled. They are packed with their own puree and juice. As they are the closest one the fresh tomatoes, so when you need to use the fresh tomatoes, instead, you can choose this ones.
One thing that you must know is that the tomatoes are usually firmer because of their skins and therefore when they are peeled, they can be quite soft. Therefore, they will break down quickly when cooked. However, if you have to choose between the whole tomatoes in puree or in juice, then you should choose the one in the puree as it is fresher.
Diced Tomatoes
This type of tomato is cut by machine and then they are packed with their own juice or puree, just like the whole ones. Some tomato brands use the calcium chloride to help and keep the tomato chunks firm and in shape.
Crushed Tomatoes
Crushed tomatoes are the fine ground tomatoes that are enriched with puree, thus their texture is thicken. There are so many different brands that give different taste to the crushed tomatoes.
