Do you use tinned tomatoes or fresh for cooking?

Question

The UK tomato season is very short, and although tomatos are available in stores, the decent ones run expensive when you need to buy enough to make a sauce. So, for tomato based recipes, many of us fall back on tinned tomatos. (Of course, being British, we're too lazy to peel, deseed, and chop)

So when it comes to cooking do you use tinned or fresh for cooking?

Douglas1179 · Accepted Answer

Tomatoes in the Southern USA are so delicious, that it would be a disservice to the tomato to put it in sauce. They are HUGE and grow from May to November and have rich and powerful names like "Beefsteak" and "Celebrity" tomato.

No ma'am you don't make a sauce. They are the star of the show and you put 'em on your plate as is. If we want a sauce there's steak sauce, barbeque sauce, ketchup. You wouldn't be caught dead with a Roma on your plate.

Marzano, Roma, Heirloom tomatoes, these are little sissy Italian boys, hanging out on the vine trying to forget that it's Italian, waiting to be crushed, wishing for a better life in America, where the produce RULES.

Lliam · Accepted Answer

I use canned tomatoes. They are already steamed, de-seeded and peeled. You can get diced, halved or whole, and even flavored with Italian or Mexican spices.

When I'm making something like a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce, I dump the entire contends of several cans in. I add them near the end in order to retain some texture and juicy, bite-sized chunks.

lilBigPotato · Accepted Answer

Both. Depends on the the food I want to make. Canned tomatoes are not that bad actually nothing wrong with using them

FreyaRed · Accepted Answer

Depends on dish. Cooking 5 hours long tomatoes until they turn in condensed tomato paste is too much work.

James The Foodie · Accepted Answer

In the kitchen, both tinned and fresh tomatoes have their own place, but it often depends on the dish and season. During a trip to Italy, I discovered the wonders of San Marzano tinned tomatoes for sauces, which offer a rich taste and convenience. For a fresh tomato salad or caprese, nothing can replace ripe, juicy fresh tomatoes. 😋🍅 When fresh tomatoes aren't in season, tinned ones work brilliantly, especially in the UK with its shorter tomato season. The deep flavor they add can elevate sauces, soups, and stews effortlessly.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Ever since I found Barilla sauces I practically only use them for cooking with tomatoes.

Jersey2 · Answer

We get Italian canned tomatoes, San Marzano. These are great for making Italian sauces. If canned at the top of ripeness canned tomatoes can be great. We buy Cento and one other brand. Cento just happens to be available at our stores and we saw excellent reviews on it. As I was posting this I looked up what the best brand was and Cento rated very well:

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/best-san-marzano-tomatoes/

MrOracle · Answer

Even in California, where we probably have better access to seasonal fruits and vegetables than anywhere else on earth, you can't always get anything but standard tomatoes, and occasionally even those have shortages. You can get cooking tomatoes like Romas 6 or 8 months a year, but they are either unavailable or way too expensive other parts of the year, and so sometimes you have to go with canned.

Fresh is always better if you can get them, but if not, the show must go on.

Staximus · Answer

The only tomatoes I use from a can are San Marzano tomatoes. I'll use jars of tomato sauce and add stuff to it, though. We're spoiled here in California. The San Joaquin valley grows half the fruit and vegetables for the whole damned country and has a long growing season. We also get a lot of produce from Southern Mexico and South America, so most fruit and vegetables are available year round except stuff like peaches and apricots.

Sevenpointfive · Answer

i'd love to say that i have the time to reduce a tomato concoction but i don't. canned tomatoes and fresh taste the same. so it definitely depends on what you are cooking.

instead of that use tomato soup or juice (organic)

ohsheeT · Answer

Everything I do everything I cook I try to cook fresh

But if I see the canned tomatoes with Chili's or jalapenos bell pepper already cut up into them on sale I'll buy five or six cans just to have them just to save time when I'm cooking stuff plus I like the flavors that are in the cans because they have melted together and make whatever kind of sauce I'm making a lot better well it's just faster and easier that's all but that is one canned item that I buy a lot of

AviatorTom · Answer

I use ready-made sauces, but I don't cook much. My wife does most of the cooking, and she uses fresh tomatoes. She hates canned goods. That's my vote.

expfireworks · Answer

For most cooking, particularly when new tomatoes are unavailable or not top caliber, tinned tomatoes are by and large liked because of their reliable flavor, comfort, and moderateness, pursuing them a superior decision for sauces, soups, stews, and pasta dishes where the surface of new tomatoes isn't urgent; nonetheless, on the off chance that you approach ready, in-season new tomatoes, they can be utilized for dishes where you need a more splendid, fresher flavor profile

molonski2 · Answer

I dont use anything in a can , really no reason to here , I go with the seasons and I do eat a lot of tomatoes.

naartjie · Answer

Honestly just depends! After working a 16 hour shift, I’m cracking a can open, cba with chopping and cleaning boards etc

David5668 · Answer

Depends on the circumstances. I love making my own Tomato, Pepper & Lentil soup. I tried it once with tinned tomatoes and it didn’t quite taste the same. But a Chilli con Carne is good with tinned tomatoes.

DJB72 · Answer

I've started canning my own this year. Much healthier.

NicholasRedone · Answer

I buy some sauce from a bottle 🍅🍾  From the store 🏬🏪  Or sometimes I rarely buy actual tomatoes

red-lipstick-girl · Answer

Fresh tomatoes in the summer and canned tomatoes that I make myself in the winter

fuddly · Answer

Here in Ireland we mostly get tomatoes from

Holland
Spain
Morocco

Ireland also of courseI haven't noticed any seasonal affect
But yes always tinned for cooking

Fresh tomatoes I find best flavour are the Spanish and Morocco

jamesgoldman · Answer

Tinned, it was good enough for the Italian restaurant I worked at

BareEssence · Answer

Fresh tomatoes are always available here so we use them fresh every time.  Some folks use tomato ketchup for mostly junk food, it's loaded with sugar.

Anonymous · Answer

Usually tinned, occasionally fresh, but sometimes I buy ready-made sauces.

pascal_climbs · Answer

Depends on the dish. But in a sauce, very often both. Fresh and concentrate

LadyBecks · Answer

I used mostly canned tomatoes. Sometimes in the summer I'll get fresh.

RichA322 · Answer

Fresh tomatoes, unless the recipe calls for tinned ones.

Subtle_Luminescence · Answer

Always fresh. I don't trust tinned/canned foods.

HungTexan · Answer

I use tinned most of the time because it’s easier, but I use fresh for done dishes.

jjr23 · Answer

always both and if i had good growing season frozen

RyanCan · Answer

I always ask this question: who use tinned tomatoes when I am grocery store lol

Gospeedracer · Answer

Mostly tinned If I have a lot of fresh tomatoes I will use them for cooking instead. I have a rotating stock in a survival pantry.

douride2 · Answer

I use a combination of tinned & fresh tomatoes.

onedarkcloud · Answer

At ten degrees it is tough to find fresh tomatoes years ago my wife and I used to can our own for the winter.[ Canned means in a ball jar]

Xoirwinkan · Answer

I heard that eating too many canned foods is bad for you so I usually buy passata in a carton.

Anonymous · Answer

I do a lot of Italian cooking. In the summer I grow tomatoes and use those. During off season I use canned whole, peeled San Marzano tomatoes.

Connie88 · Answer

Tinned I tend to leave the complex cooking to the pro’s.

Peggee4U · Answer

I mainly use tinned for creating a sauce or fried breakfast and fresh for salads etc.

NathanDavis · Answer

fresh, from the local supplier

coolbreeze · Answer

I use everything tin, fresh, glass bottle

Drumlin2001 · Answer

Both. Depends what dish, each have their uses

Shiprex · Answer

Both sometimes together to add substance

bolverk · Answer

I use both, depending on the dish.

Wiredone · Answer

We buy bottle pasta sauce

Pterodon · Answer

Depends on recipe

ehatsham_hussain · Answer

We use fresh.

HДLILБΞУ · Answer

fresh tomatoes..

Pohjolan · Answer

Both.

MrZameer · Answer

always fresh

jimmy2 · Answer

Fresh is best

Do you use tinned tomatoes or fresh for cooking?

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