Tinned tomatoes are wonderful, essential, enduring things: what would we do without them? Of the various types – whole, crushed, pulped, passata – chopped are particularly accommodating, providing a pleasing tomato presence while being easily reduced to sauce, and good value, too. However, chopped tomatoes (unlike whole tomatoes) can also be an excuse for a lesser product and more preservatives, which is why tasting and comparing is essential.
I always taste tomatoes cold, straight from the tin, with my eyes closed – a helper is useful – because, while deep red chunks and sauce are pleasing, they may have no bearing on flavour. I hope for a good balance of sweet, sour (acidity), salty (savoury), bitter and umami; chunks that are firm without being unduly crunchy or unripe; and a sauce that is full-flavoured and has a nice texture, and which might be velvety, but could equally be thinner but juicy. The highest compliment I can pay a tinned tomato is feeling that I could eat the contents cold from the tin.
The next question I ask myself is how many additions – salt, olive oil, butter, onion, garlic, basil, ginger – those tomatoes would require to make a good sauce. While I hope these results are helpful, I highly recommend doing your own test and enlisting another person to assist: we all have wildly different taste perceptions. I look forward to hearing about them.
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Best bargain
Ocado Italian chopped tomatoes
★★★★☆
Firm, fleshy chunks and the juice has a rich, round flavour with nice balance of sweet, savoury and acidity. Would need barely any additions to become a simple tomato sauce – a good all-rounder, and exceptional price and quality.
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Best all-rounder
M&S Italian tomatoes
★★★★☆
Plump chunks, with a well-balanced, fresh and natural sunny-tasting juice – already almost a sauce. Could be taken anywhere.
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Best splurge
Cirio Polpa chopped tomatoes
★★★★★
Hello tomatoes! The fleshy chunks are extremely pleasing, and a round juice with a great savoury, naturally sweet, acid balance. I would use these for everything, and especially sauces with basil and/or anchovy, and for saucy eggs.
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And the rest …
Tesco Italian chopped tomatoes
★★☆☆☆
While the colour is pale but pleasing (tinned tomatoes do not always need to be bright red and thick), the chunks are insubstantial and the juice is a bit watery and thin, although the flavour is well balanced. Could be used in sauces and stews along with additions and a squirt of concentrate.
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Sainsbury’s Italian chopped tomatoes
★★☆☆☆
Pale aspect, but the chunks have a decent consistency. The juice is thin in both consistency and flavour, but it’s balanced and there is no hard aftertaste. Functional.
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Morrisons chopped tomatoes
★☆☆☆☆
The chunks are fleshy and hopeful, but the juice thin and somehow synthetic – would need a lot of help from the other ingredients.
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Asda chopped tomatoes
★☆☆☆☆
Despite the quite weedy chunks and juice, the flavour and balance are decent, albeit overwhelmed by a hard, slightly metallic aftertaste (this could well be my mouth – the way tomatoes taste is extremely personal). Would need a lot of help from the seasoning.
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Cucina chopped tomatoes
★★★☆☆
As promised on the tin, impressive and fleshy chunks, while the thick juice tends more towards the savoury than the sweet, and has a nice note of acidity. Would need very little help to become sauce; ideal for shakshuka-type baked eggs dishes and poached fish.
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Napolina chopped tomatoes
★★★☆☆
Nice chunks, plus a bright initial flavour that promises but then fails to deliver the savoury-sweetness I’d hope for. Fine, if functional.
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Mutti Polpa finely chopped tomatoes
★★★★☆
That “finely chopped” explains the pulpy rather than chunky aspect of these, which could be changed by cooking/milling. Full-bodied and rich – and maybe slightly too much for my taste. No doubt of quality. Would need almost nothing added to become a rich sauce. A little will go a long way.
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