I have always been a big fan of blind taste tests. I remember back about nine years ago when my roommate and I were snowed in our apartment in Chicago, we walked over to the convenient store and decided to buy all the different diet sodas to find out once and for all which we preferred. I always go for Diet Coke while my friend Stef leans towards Diet Pepsi. Always a challenge when we were stocking up our fridge. I knew for sure that I would pick the Coke, after all I had been drinking it since I was in 8th grade. After carefully labeling the bottom of each plastic cup with a letter, and corresponding it to the cans (we picked up other like Diet RC and the no name brand), it was time to taste. I chose the one that tasted exponentially better than the rest (not that any diet soda really tastes GOOD). It was the Diet Pepsi….I was shocked. I thought there must be some mistake with our system but there was not. But until this day, I still buy Diet Coke.

I was remembering this lately and thought it would be fun to start doing more blind taste tests. You never really can compare until you sit down and blindly taste a variety of brands of an item. I decided to start with canned tomatoes. I first tried San Marzano, imported from Italy, last summer while I was working in the Hamptons. The woman I worked for insisted that I use only this brand because they were the best. They did seem quite good so I took a label home and it has been hanging on my refrigerator ever since. I did not want to for get the brand, and it is not one that you see at every store. Now I keep my eyes out and when I am some place that carries it I stock up on a few cans. I started to wonder if they really were as superior as I had made them out to be so I went to Dominicks and bought every brand of whole canned tomatoes I could find. I invited over a fellow chef and we got set up for our blind tasting.

San Marzano did prove to be one of the top brands, but some of the other results were unexpected. I think I was surprised at just how different the tomatoes tasted. I was searching for great tomato flavor, great acidity and balanced sweetness. The goal is to take tomatoes at their peak and capture that flavor. Some of these tasted like they took hard as rock, under ripened tomatoes in the middle of winter and added in some sugar and that was it. So here are the results, beginning with my favorite. (Prices are based on a large 28 oz. can)

1. San Marzano (imported from Italy) $4.65
These still made the top of the list, though not by as wide of a margin as I expected. They have a very fresh and well balanced flavor; the flavor you get from tomatoes at their peak ripeness. They are a bit more expensive than the others, and they are only found at specialty markets so they may not be the best for every day use. However, if you do come across them, pick up a couple of cans for your cupboard.

2. Red Gold $1.85
These were the big surprise when the brands were revealed as they came in at a very close second. Sine they are very readily available and much more reasonably priced, I would recommend these for every day use. They have nice acidity, very intense tomato flavor, a hint of sweetness, and are nicely balanced.
The liquid is not overly thick but also is not watery as with some of the brands.

3. O Organics $2.45
This is a nice organic brand of tomatoes that you can get at your local grocery store. Pretty well balanced with sweetness and acidity with a nice natural tomato flavor. The liquid is nicely flavored and not overly watery.

4. Hunts $1.79
These do not have an offensive flavor but just very overly sweet and fake tasting…. in the words of my co-taster “they remind me of Del Monte canned fruit” where the natural flavor is taken over by sweetness. I think they could still work well in tomato sauces where a little sweetness can be nice.

5. Safeway $1.99
There is nothing very distinctive about these; not great but not terrible. Little on the watery side, the liquid was very thin and light in color but tomatoes themselves had decent flavor.
$1.99

6. Dell ‘Alpe (imported from Italy) $3.39
This is an imported brand that I purchased at my local grocer. I was surprised with the disappointing flavor profile. There was no acidity at all, the liquid was very thick and without great flavor and the flavor was just all together bland.

7. Muir Glen Organic $3.49
I hate to say it, but these were by far the worst. We both wanted to spit them out. The flavor was best described as awful, there was a very bad mushy texture to the tomatoes, and there was absolutely no acidity. They did not really even resemble the flavor of a tomato.