Sourcing the Perfect Tomatoes

In the world of pizza, few ingredients are as critical as tomatoes. The base of any great sauce, tomatoes provide that essential balance of sweetness and acidity that defines classic pizza flavor. At PIZZAPIZZA, our quest for the perfect tomato has been a journey of discovery, compromise, and ultimately, innovation that reflects our commitment to blending Italian tradition with Canadian identity.

The San Marzano Legend

For pizza purists, there's only one type of tomato worthy of consideration: the San Marzano. Grown in the volcanic soil near Mount Vesuvius in Italy, these elongated plum tomatoes have achieved an almost mythical status. Their unique characteristics include:

• A robust but balanced sweetness
• Lower acidity than many other varieties
• Fewer seeds and a meatier flesh
• A distinctive bittersweet flavor with subtle notes of pine

When we first developed our pizza sauce recipe, we naturally gravitated toward authentic DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) San Marzano tomatoes. These protected designation tomatoes are grown in specific regions of Italy under strict guidelines and are considered the gold standard for Neapolitan pizza.

However, as our commitment to sustainability and local sourcing grew, we began questioning whether importing tomatoes from 7,000 kilometers away aligned with our values, especially considering the environmental impact of such transportation.

The Canadian Tomato Challenge

Canada may not immediately spring to mind as a tomato-growing powerhouse, but our country actually has a robust tomato industry, particularly in Ontario. Each summer, Ontario's fields produce an abundance of plum and Roma tomatoes, some of which are excellent for sauce-making.

Our initial tests with locally grown tomatoes revealed both challenges and opportunities:

• Advantages: Freshness, reduced carbon footprint, supporting local agriculture, and often more vine-ripened flavor
• Challenges: Different acid-to-sugar ratios, shorter growing season, less consistent flavor profiles from year to year

The climate and soil conditions in Canada simply produce a different tomato than those grown in the volcanic soils of Italy. Not better or worse—just different.

The Blind Taste Test

To challenge our own assumptions and biases, we conducted extensive blind taste tests with various tomato sources. We prepared identical pizzas, changing only the tomato source for the sauce. The results were fascinating and sometimes surprising:

• DOP San Marzano tomatoes consistently scored highest on "traditional flavor" metrics
• Canadian field-grown plum tomatoes received high marks for "freshness" and "brightness"
• Many tasters actually preferred the slightly higher acidity of the Canadian tomatoes when paired with rich toppings
• Hothouse Canadian tomatoes scored lowest overall, lacking depth of flavor

What was most interesting was that when we asked tasters to identify which pizza had the "authentic Italian" sauce, many incorrectly identified the Canadian tomato sauce as the imported option. This challenged our assumption that authenticity could only come from imported ingredients.

Our Hybrid Solution: The Best of Both Worlds

After months of testing, we arrived at what might be considered a controversial solution among pizza purists: a hybrid approach. Our signature sauce now combines:

• Imported DOP San Marzano tomatoes (approximately 60% of the blend)
• Locally sourced Ontario plum tomatoes in season (approximately 40%)

This blend gives us the distinctive depth and sweetness that San Marzanos are famous for while adding a fresh brightness from local produce. It also reduces our carbon footprint compared to using 100% imported tomatoes, while still maintaining the authentic flavor that our customers expect.

During winter months, when fresh local tomatoes aren't available, we adjust our blend to include preserved summer tomatoes that we process and bottle ourselves at the height of the season.

"The beauty of cooking is that it's never about rigid adherence to tradition or place—it's about honoring those traditions while adapting to your own environment. Our tomato sauce represents the meeting point between Italian heritage and Canadian terroir."

— Isabella Rossi, PIZZAPIZZA Founder

Beyond the Tomato Variety: Processing Methods

We quickly discovered that the tomato variety was only part of the equation. How those tomatoes are processed dramatically affects the final sauce quality. Our journey led us to explore various processing methods:

The Cold Crush Method

Many traditional Neapolitan pizzerias use minimally processed tomatoes, often simply crushing them by hand or passing them through a food mill to remove seeds. This approach preserves the fresh flavor but can lead to inconsistency and excess water content.

The Slow-Cooked Approach

American-style pizza sauces are frequently cooked for hours to concentrate flavors and develop complexity. While this produces a rich sauce, it transforms the bright tomato flavor into something deeper and less distinctly "tomato-forward."

Our Method: Quick-Roasted Concentration

We developed a hybrid technique that begins with fresh tomatoes (both San Marzano and local varieties) that are quickly roasted at high temperature to reduce moisture and intensify flavor, without developing the long-cooked taste of a simmered sauce.

The tomatoes are then passed through a food mill to remove seeds and skins, and finally mixed with minimal seasonings: high-quality sea salt, a touch of first-press olive oil, and fresh basil. What's notably absent are added sugars, citric acid, or the numerous preservatives found in commercial sauces.

Supporting Local Agriculture: Our Tomato Farm Partnership

Beyond simply purchasing local tomatoes, we've developed a partnership with Sunnyfield Farms, a family-owned operation about 150 kilometers from our restaurant. For the past three years, we've collaborated on growing specific tomato varieties that combine the best characteristics of San Marzanos with varieties better suited to our local climate.

This partnership has evolved to include:

• Reserved acreage specifically for our restaurant's needs
• Experimental growing of several Italian heritage varieties
• Sustainable farming practices that align with our environmental values
• Annual seed-saving to develop strains that perform better in our local climate year after year

Last summer, we began trialing a promising hybrid developed by agricultural researchers at the University of Guelph that combines San Marzano characteristics with greater disease resistance and productivity in Canadian growing conditions. The early results have been exciting, and we hope to incorporate these tomatoes into our sauce within the next year or two.

Preserving Summer Flavors

Canada's short growing season presents both a challenge and an opportunity. During peak tomato season (typically late July through September), we process and preserve hundreds of kilograms of local tomatoes using a variety of methods:

• Quick-roasting and freezing sauce bases
• Traditional water-bath canning of whole tomatoes
• Slow-dehydrating tomatoes for intensity of flavor
• Creating tomato confit preserved in olive oil

These preservation techniques allow us to capture the essence of peak-season tomatoes and extend their use throughout the year, reducing our reliance on hothouse or long-distance tomatoes during winter months.

The Future of Our Tomato Sourcing

As we look ahead, our goal is to continue increasing our use of local tomatoes while maintaining the distinctive flavor profile our customers have come to expect. We're exploring several promising directions:

• Supporting agricultural research into tomato varieties specifically adapted for Canadian conditions
• Expanding our preservation capacity to process more local tomatoes during peak season
• Investigating greenhouse technologies that could produce higher-quality tomatoes outside the traditional growing season

We've even begun experimenting with a small rooftop growing operation at our restaurant, allowing us to grow specialty varieties in small quantities for special seasonal offerings.

The Philosophy Behind the Sauce

Our approach to tomatoes reflects our broader culinary philosophy: honoring traditional methods and ingredients while embracing local adaptation and innovation. We believe that truly great food must be rooted in place—both in respect for historical traditions and in connection to local environment and community.

Our hybrid sauce represents this philosophy in practice: a blend of imported tradition and local terroir that creates something unique to PIZZAPIZZA—neither purely Italian nor purely Canadian, but a delicious intersection of both worlds.

We invite you to taste this philosophy in action. Next time you visit, pay particular attention to the sauce on your pizza—that perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, depth and brightness. It represents years of exploration, experimentation, and our ongoing commitment to bringing the best of Italy and Canada to your table.