Delicious tomatos - www.enjoygoodies.com - "A Miracle" from San Gennaro 530g

Let us explain right at the beginning that tomatoes Il Miracolo di San Gennaro are the only one which contain 100% gene of San Marzano tomatoes, but because Mr. Sabato preserves them together with a skin, he can not name them San Marzano, because criteria of PDO ( protected designation of origin) says that they must be preserved peeled. Isn’t it ironic?

San Marzano tomatoes, a variety of plum tomatoes, are by many chefs considered to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world.

San Marzano tomatoes are thinner and pointier in shape, the flesh is much thicker with fewer seeds, and the taste is much stronger, sweeter and less acidic. Round tomatoes have between 5 and 7 seed pockets; plum tomatoes like the San Marzano have only 2. Many people describe the taste as bittersweet, like high-quality chocolate. During cooking the tomato’s very thin skin dissolves, amalgamating with the pulp and leaving the flavor unaltered. The flavor evolves fully with cooking.

THE ORIGIN

The story goes that the first seed of San Marzano tomato came to Campania in 1770, as a gift from the Kingdom of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples, and that it was planted in the area that corresponds to the present commune of San Marzano.

Years ago the whole area surrounding Sant’Antonio Abate, near Naples, was covered with San Marzano tomatoes.
But then around 17 years ago the crops were hit by a terrible virus, just as the land was being converted to intensive Dutch-style floriculture. The adventure started with the attempt to reclaim fields in a difficult zone and fighting for the draining of the River Sarno which crossed them. The old virgin land, rich in volcanic ash from Vesuvius, was finally rescued after having been abandoned for years.

Also the original seeds have been restored.

PRESERVED AUTHENTICITY OF THE SEEDS

As we already mentioned Mr. Sabato Abagnale grows San Marzano tomatoes under the brand The Miracle of San Gennaro. He uses his own seeds Smec 20 and makes 2.5 kilos of tomatoes per plant. Everybody else uses the commercial and more prolific C3 seeds which produce 10 kilos of tomatoes per plant, with much tougher skin and easier to work with machines. Mr. Sabato even has a DNA test: 100% san marzano genes and no other San Marzano tomato can claim such a pedigree.

PRODUCED WITH RESPECT
Mr. Sabato has chosen an extreme path with no compromises: artisan and traditional, in complete harmony with the environment and the rhythms of the land. He has been processing preserved tomatoes for more than 10 years. First on an industrial scale, alongside with his father, and now for six years artisanally, as the leading producer of the “Slow Food Presidi”. He has chosen the more difficult path, a path that requires a strong will and the patience to wait for the land to grow its fruits, without relying on modern techniques of intensive cultivation and intrusive technology. They respect Earth, traditions and the products of the Earth. Their objective is to revalue agricultural economy of their country and to build a future of hope for generations to come.

They take care of the product completely by themselves from producing to selling it. It is very important that they use no chemicals; they use a method whit which only one product is planted in the same soil in one year.

Tomatoes are picked by hand. Also transformation of the product is done by hand using the knowledge and techniques of their grandfathers.

TASTE OF A SUNSET

Cultivating the authentic San Marzano tomato is a hard work. The tomatoes are harvested when very ripe, in 7 or 8 different batches from July to September. Other producers tend to harvest ripe and green tomatoes together which is a lot easier but of course the taste is less good. The San Marzano tomatoes are watered extremely little in the last 15 days before harvesting. The tomatoes, which must be very ripe, are collected only in the evening, when the sun is setting.

Their taste is truly exceptional, unmistakable, practically a miracle.