Consumer advocacy group Choice has taste-tested 18 brands of chopped and diced tomatoes, finding three cheaper cans outranked many more expensive brands.
Four judges ranked tinned tomatoes from Australian supermarkets and retailers, assessing them on flavour, texture, appearance and aroma – with flavour accounting for the biggest percentage of overall scores.
Italian brand Mutti’s Polpa Organic chopped tomatoes, costing $2.95 for a 400g tin, was awarded the highest score of 80%. It was the most expensive product tested, described by judge Fiona Mair (who also judges at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show) as having “an earthy fresh tomato aroma, really rich juice and flesh”. She said it was “a real standout”.
Coles Cucina Matese diced tomatoes, described by the judges as having “pleasant tomato aroma” and “smooth consistency”, came in second, with 76%. At $1.40 per 400g tin, it is less than half the price of the winning product. Judge Pru Engel, also Choice’s audience and engagement editor, said she’s since switched to this one for her home cooking.
“The one I usually buy didn’t do that well,” said Engel. “[The Coles Cucina Matese diced tomatoes] is great value and it got a really high score, so that’s the one I buy now.”
Coles Italian diced tomatoes ($1.10 for 400g) and IGA’s Community Co Italian diced tomatoes ($1.30 for 400g) tied in third place, both scoring 75%. Mair said, apart from the 20c price difference, there wasn’t much separating the two. Judges said both would be “perfect for soups”.
The budget cans outranked other products from Mutti, although the worst-ranked product was one of the cheapest in the test: IGA brand Black & Gold chopped tomatoes (95c) with a score of 48%. “It was not particularly pleasant,” said Engel. The judges said it was “watery”, “had discoloured pieces of tomato” and a “really mild aroma”.
Price was not always an indicator of performance, said Engel. “Yes, the most expensive product in the test came out on top, but some of the cheaper ones still earned good scores.”
Choice judges tasted the diced and chopped tomatoes unheated, “straight from the tin,” said Mair. “We thought that would be the best way to capture the true essence of the tomatoes, in their raw state, [for] the clearest results,” she said.
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Water crackers and plain water were used as palate cleansers, and all 18 products were tasted blind. Five were Australian made, with the majority being Italian imports. The best-ranked local product was Woolworths Australian diced tomatoes ($1.30), with a score of 73%.
Many of the lowest-ranked products were considered “too acidic”, which Mair said is something that can be mitigated during cooking, by adding a pinch of bicarb soda or sugar. “You can even throw a carrot into the sauce to give it a little bit more sweetness,” she said.
Nine of the products tested contained citric acid or another unspecified acidity regulator, which are usually used to extend a product’s shelf life, balance flavour and help stop the tomatoes’ colour fading. “You want to have that lovely deep red colour and really lovely fresh clean tomato aroma and a few underwhelmed in that respect,” said Engel.
“It does obviously depend on what you’re cooking, but if you’re making a tomato based stew, soup or pasta sauce where the tomato sauce is the hero ingredient … then you want to be choosing chopped tomatoes that really improve that flavour and have the right texture,” said Engel.
Guardian Australia contacted IGA for comment.
