San Marzano DOP vs. Muir Glen Organic Plum
I wanted to test what all the fuss was about San Marzano tomatoes carrying the “DOP” designation. The “Denomination Origin Protection” authentication is a way for growers in Italy to certify that their tomatoes come from the correct region and grown under certain conditions. Much like the “Denomination Origin Controlled” or “DOC” used for French wines, the Italian government has grown concerned over such terminology when it comes to foods produced in Italy. The latest fashion among Italian cooks is to specify the “DOP” designation for their tomatoes while making a tomato sauce. The drawback; tomatoes carrying the “DOP” designation are 2 to 5 times more expensive than comparable organic tomatoes grown in the United States. Or 3 to 7 times more expensive than comparable non-organic tomatoes grown in the United States.
The test used an altered recipe inspired by Lidia Bastianich, from her Italian American Cookbook. I used a 28 ounce can of San Marzano Tomatoes DOP from Gia Russa, which I purchased for $5.79, and a 28 ounce can of organic plum tomatoes from Muir Glen which I purchased for $3.25. There were two main differences in the products: 1) Muir Glen tomatoes were packed in tomato juice, the Gia Russa tomatoes were packed in tomato puree, and 2) the Muir Glen tomatoes had about 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt versus negligible salt in the Gia Russa. Other than that the packages and ingredients were identical.
Following the recipe directions each sauce was cooked for exactly 45 minutes using the same ingredients. I adjusted the salt in the Gia Russa tomatoes to make sure there was not taste difference due to salting.
The sauces were blind tested two ways: 1) first the sauces were tasted as a stand alone sauce, and 2) the sauces were added to a small amount of pasta and the pasta and sauce were tasted. In the first test the San Marzano tomatoes were a unanimous selection. Everyone commented about the intensity of the tomato flavor. While everyone liked both sauces, the San Marzano sauce was thought to be just a bit better. In the second test with the pasta, two of us liked the San Marzano better, and one of us liked the Muir Glen organic sauce better. The consensus in both instances was decidedly in favor of the San Marzano DOP from Gia Russa.
The question of course becomes how much better do you like the San Marzano tomatoes? Is it worth about twice as much per can to pay for a better sauce? I will leave that up to you. However, I can assure you that if the San Marzano DOP tomatoes ever go on sale I will probably break down and buy a case.