I listened to an episode of gastropod a while ago and it was all about how you can make canned tomatoes taste amazing, but it's not economically scalable because you have to can them within twelve hours of harvest, so the only people who do this do this for this one brand of tomatoes, Stanislaus, that sells exclusively to restaurants.
And I was like, "Are you just doing free advertising for these guys/Did you just spend an hour telling me how amazing these tomatoes I can never taste are?"
And then I find an enormous can of Stanislaus tomatoes on the counter because apparently my mom bought them from a "Cash and Carry" outfit that makes restaurant goods available to the public, as long as you're willing to buy enormous cans.
And you know what? They do fucking taste amazing.
@Betty damn now i’ve gotta try these tomatoes too
i’ve always been baffled by how bad US canned tomatoes are (in comparison to italian brands, which are common around here due to all the italians) and now i’m wondering if this is one of the reasons why….
@Satsuma apparently nearly all US tomatoes are cooked down to concentrate right after harvest, which takes up less room, and then rehydrated and canned later, which (as Stanislaus tomatoes *would* say) does not produce as good a taste as canning them whole and fresh.
@Satsuma @Betty I have read (at least, in recipes by USA cooks) that you should always buy canned whole tomatoes, even if you intend to immediately puree them, because the whole canned tomatoes are superior. this would explain why!
(I opt out of the whole canned tomato problem by just. canning a bushel of fresh tomatoes every year. but that's not a practical solution for many people!)
@Satsuma Oh, yeah. Maybe more sensible!