Tinned Tomatoes

After a recent poll to decide what to review next I was surprised to see tinned tomatoes as the most suggested. And the number of people in my inbox passionately telling me the best ones to buy intrigued me. Shamefully, I only bought tinned tomatoes, a different brand every time, to make my food red. Never for the taste, I’d worry about that after and use a variety of ingredients to balance my meal if necessary. It’s not that long ago I wouldn’t let a single tomato pass my lips. A hatred I developed in childhood I brought into adulthood when I eventually had a word with myself and decided it was time to embrace them. I shunned tinned tomatoes after constantly getting tins full of ‘tomato bits,’ which put me off forever. Instead, I switched to passata, which I buy solely for the texture, I don’t care where from and I haven’t looked back. Though additional ingredients are often still needed.

So committed I was to this review I tasted the tomatoes straight from the tin - which I would not recommend unless you are a lunatic.

And then I cooked with them like a normal person.

From the cheapest to most expensive, here are my findings:

Aldi

Cost: 38p

Stockist: Aldi

Look: Like a tin of chopped tomatoes. I mean I had little to go off since they were the first ones I tried, but they looked fine, small chunks that appeared relatively normal to my untrained tinned tomato shunning eyes.

Taste/texture: I was expecting something, anything to base an opinion on but these tasted of nothing at all.

Overall: They were insipid but the texture was adequate. From the first spoonful I had there were no ‘bits’ which alone deserves a point. Though they taste of nothing they will colour and bulk out your meal sufficiently. And best of all? They’re the cheapest I tried.

Rating: 2/5

Tesco

Cost: 45p

Stockist: Tesco

Look: Paler than the rest and quite orange with a couple of skins floating on top which put me off before I even tried them.

Taste/texture: So very acidic. I kept smacking my lips together and not in a good way. There is so much citric acid that my tastebuds disagree with the bold claim Tesco make of the contents of the tin being ‘plump vine ripened tomatoes handpicked picked at their sweetest’. Absolutely repulsive.

Overall: Only desperation would make me buy these again. And even then I’d rather do without. Steer clear, they are vile.

Rating: 0/5

Sainsburys

Cost: 55p

Stockist: Sainsburys

Look: A slightly deeper red than their peers with no immediate noteworthy flaws.

Taste/texture: I began to regret my decision to taste these tomatoes straight from the tin. They tasted like nails being scraped down a blackboard. The juice was a little thicker than others which was appreciated, however acidic the mouthful I tolerated.

Overall: I think Sainsbury’s and Tesco are in competition over who can create the worst tin of tomatoes. So far there’s very little in it. I’d say these were only marginally better than Tesco but just as offensive.

Rating: 1/5

M&S

Cost: 55p

Stockist: M&S and Ocado

Look: I’m struggling here.

Taste/texture: The sweetest and most flavoursome so far. Soft with a nice texture and no bits. A relief.

Overall: Finally, a tin that tasted of something other than nothing or extreme bitterness. I’m grateful these tasted of tomatoes, sweet, thick ish juice and not at all acidic.

Rating: 3/5

Waitrose

Cost: 60p

Stockist: Waitrose

Look: I’d say these were the biggest chunks so far. I was dreading it.

Taste/texture: Very watery and tasted of sadness and despair. The bit of skin I pulled from my mouth put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Overall: I expected more from Waitrose and it’s unlikely I’ll buy these again.

Rating: 1/5

Cirio

Cost: 75p

Stockist: Most major supermarkets

Look: What in the passata have we here? Someone forgot to put the tomatoes in.

Taste/texture: The flavour of this tin of not chopped tomatoes and not quite passata was well balanced but there was no real depth of flavour. I also wasn’t comparing apples for apples here. It said chopped tomatoes on the tin. What I opened was not that but just juice. To cook with, I had no complaints because I didn’t have to do any smushing and there was no fishing out of bits.

Overall: They tasted good. But if I wanted to review passata I would’ve bought passata.

Rating: 3/5

Napolina

Cost: £1

Stockist: Most major supermarkets.

Look: It was like watching a horror film. I sat unable to avert my gaze as water oozed slowly from the largest chopped chunks of them all before my very eyes.

Taste/texture: A nice enough taste but very watery.

Overall: I had high hopes for this brand but the fact they tasted good was irrelevant as the consistency changed before I even tried them.

Rating: 2/5

Mutti

Cost: £1 - £1.45 depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Stockist: Most major supermarkets

Look: Like mulch. I’ve never seen such a texture. They seemed very confident that they could deviate from the norm and offer something different. A very fine texture somewhere between chopped tomatoes and passata.

Taste/texture: All I was eating was textures of tomato and pinch of salt. And I had several mouthfuls which I’m surprised by. Delicious.

Overall: This will surprise few people but these were by far the best of the bunch. Even as the most expensive tin they were the only tin that had no additional ingredients and were just full of sweet delicious tomatoes and no bits with a bit of salt. Outstanding.

Rating: 5/5

Tinned cherry tomatoes

I accidentally bought two tins of cherry tomatoes on my tomato shopping spree so tasted those too.

In the tin they looked like a bunch of synchronised swimmers about to come up for a breath mid performance. One of the tins was an eye watering £1.80 and while I can’t be bothered to go into too much detail about them I’ll just say that one of the skins slid straight off as the tomato burst in my mouth. It was a sensation I wish never to relive. I then painstakingly slid the rolled up tomato skin out of my mouth which made me grimace as I tried repeatedly and failed to flick it off my fingers and into the bin. Instead I scraped it dismissively on the edge of my worktop and took a minute to compose myself. This was Mutti. The taste was actually quite acidic. The other tin (Waitraose) was similar but tasted almost boozy. Nope.

And finally.

This taste test has almost reignited my repulsion towards tomatoes so roll on summer when I can eat some decent fresh ones and hopefully undo the damage. Cooking with them was as expected. And I had to use additional ingredients to balance the meal with most of the tins. But despite all that my husband couldn’t tell the difference between any of them. He hurts my head.

My only regret is not trying an organic tin, which is what I would usually go for. But ten tins of tomatoes was quite enough.

The ones I’d recommend are: 

Aldi for cost

M&S for cheap taste

Mutti to impress