Tinned tomatoes

Well now, I feel its time to get another comparison on this blog, and I want to go with a good staple food.  Tinned tomatoes.  These babies can make an amazing yet simple sauce *see the cupboard love series* but they can either cost the earth or cost peanuts.  Is it really necessary to pay nearly a pound ($1 something) for one tin?  Is there really difference in taste and quality in the cheaper "no fills" version.  Join me on this little adventure - personally I don't know if there will be a discernible difference, I reckon there will be more water in the no frills one but essentially the same.  But we shall see :)

Here are my two subjects, one costing £1.09 for one.... yep that's right £1.09.  The other is the basic range costing 31p, that's a big range in price.  Does this mean inferior toms in the cheaper tin?

Lets take a look at the ingredients .. well pretty much the same.  Ok so the more expensive tin has a ring pull top and the other needs an old fashion tin opener to get in.  Hope that's not what I'm paying for!




What do they look like inside... again fairly similar.  The cheaper tin does have a little more water in them, but not a lot if I'm honest.  But the more expensive range does have a deeper red tone to it, but nothing that is blowing me away.








So cooking and tasting.  What is the one thing to do with tinned tomatoes?  Make a simple tomato sauce "just like mama used to make" - well not mine, she isn't a great fan of cooking nor is she Italian (looks it with her dark hair and olive-ish skin, but she is very much a Londoner).

I cooked both tins separately and added the same ingredients to both, half a banana shallot (didn't have any onions in the fridge), some mushrooms, dried chilies, dried oregano  dried basil, dried thyme and fresh rosemary (this is why I stressed the importance of a good herb and spice rack/cupboard in Cupboard Love - a spicy beginning).

I did burn the shallots in one of the pans (naughty me!), but tasting afterwards revealed to me no difference at all.  Not a single difference, I was expecting something, less developed taste in the cheaper tin, maybe even a funny taste.  But no, nothing.  I had to get the b/f to help out, he is nothing but honest.  If he can tell the difference then he will let me know.













And he did, it wasn't until he eat one of the lumps of tomatoes that he could taste the difference.  The tomatoes from the cheaper tin where a little more tasteless compared to the more expensive tins.  Perhaps the cheaper toms were forced grown in poly tunnels, there is nothing on the tin to suggest where they  have come from.  When I tried it again, I too could taste the difference it was a subtle difference but it was there. 

I am not going to say, you must start spending more on tin toms, at £1.09 a can it is too much for those who don't have the money, or want to spend on such a stock item.  There is another way around this, tomato puré, this isn't the cheapest thing in the shop, but adds a good hit of tomato flavour in a small amount and it cheaper in the long run than spending £1.09 a time.  A couple of teaspoons of the red stuff will make the cheaper tin toms sing, and it lasts a long time so a good investment!

So what am I going to do?  Change my buying habits?  Honestly no I/we won't be changing, but we can afford to pay that.  But if I were to suddenly find myself unable to afford it, the basic range is a decent substitute.



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