ottawa foodies

Hey,

Anyone know where I can get some good San Marzano tomatoes? Preferably already in a sauce form, I'm trying to make some homemade pizza and I've been told San Marzanos are the way to go. Preferably somewhere in the south end of the city or Nepean, but I suppose I don't mind going out of my way a bit if I can buy in bulk.

I could've sworn Nicastro's on Merivale carried it but I only ever remember seeing "San Marzano Style" tomatoes and not the authentic thing. Looked at some of the regular places (Loblaws, Metro, Food Basics, Farm Boy) but didn't see anything.

CostCo usually has cases of canned San Marzano tomatoes or sauce, can't remember which it is.

Ah shoot, I don't have a membership to Costco yet. I suppose I could ask a friend if I could accompany them next time they go. In the meantime if anyone knows of any other locations I'd love to hear them. Walmart appears to have them online but I'd just prefer to go buy them in person and doesn't appear to be in stock in any of the local stores. Thanks for the response!

I know some Independents and Lawblah's has stock of them. So does Nicastros.

They are about $5 a can for the real ones.

But if you posted this a couple months ago, I could have helped you out! I figure I tilled about 250 into the soil in my garden as we could not keep up to eating them all :)

On a separate thread I want to post about a the concept of a PVS....preferred vegetable supplier. Stay tuned.

I've only ever seen the cans. Generally you just crush them by hand for the sauce. Have also seen them at Loblaws and Metro and Nicastro's. Costco used to carry them but seem to have switched to a different style.

Yeah I would have thought for sure Nicastros would have them. Perhaps I'll check again tomorrow. I went there a couple months ago for some pizza-related groceries(flour, fresh mozzarella, meats) and had everything I needed but the tomatoes. Ended up buying some passata but it was pretty bitter. I'd love to grow my own San Marzanos one day.

Do you know which Loblaws has it? I'm looking on their website right now and it looks like they do have San Marzano tomatoes, although it doesn't appear to say which stores and I don't remember seeing it at the South Keys location.

PoohBarr - I'll definitely have to take another trip to Nicatro's then. Seems like the general consensus is they must have them, perhaps I missed them. Admittedly I don't have a great eye when it comes to spotting things in a grocery store.

Thanks everyone.

I have bought both the San Marzano canned tomatoes and the sauce at Nicastro and specially Le Bottaga.. Sometimes they also have it on sale.

So definitely a trip to Nicastros then. I'll have to see if it's offered in a sauce/puree or if they're whole and I need to blend them (if someone knows that would be awesome). The Walmart on Baseline also supposedly has cans in form of a puree, perhaps that's an option but it's a little bit further than Nicastros.

For sure Nicastro's on Merivale has them. As Krusty pointed out, the real ones are $5 or so per can for the imported ones from Italy. The grocery store snd Costco ones are San Marzano but they are not the imported kind. To a certain extent, let price be your guide and check the label for origin.

And Krusty, if you are tilling tomatoes under next year, I'll gladly take them off your hands.

They have these ones at most of the big loblaw's I've been too and have also picked some up at the Metro on the south end of Merrivale
www.loblaws.ca

The tomatoes at Costco are a brand called San Marzano and are imported from Italy but are not San Marzano tomatoes. Nevertheless, they are a very good canned tomato. As others have said, I have found real canned San Marzano at Nicastro's/La Bottega and Farmer's Pick. They range between $4.00 and $5.00 a can.

I do not recall which stores consistently have them aside from Nicastros.

Last year I did something like this with the ones I grew:

www.theslowroasteditalian.com

And then put them through my tomato press. It was glorious and could not make it fast enough it was sooooooo good.

For the canned ones I bought, they were always whole but easy to crush up.

I just learned this the other day- real San Marzano tomatoes from Italy can only be sold whole in cans- they can't be crushed or pureed to be put in cans/bottles.

Interesting, I'm going to have to do a taste test. I ended up going to Walmart and Nicastro's. I think the ones from Nicastro's are whole tomatoes, Walmart's I'm not sure. Walmart's is DOP certified and says "Product of Italy" but I have a suspicion it's in puree form reading a couple online reviews.

vittoria trattoria has a great sauce available at any resto and at moncions and bottega i believe.