Pomodoro San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino

Appearance & taste

Only peeled tomatoes of the varieties S. Marzano 2 and KIROS or improved breeding lines are sold, whole or cut lengthwise into fillets, in jars or tinplate cans. The fresh fruit has two or three locules, is elongated and 60 to 80 mm long, with an angular or roundish cross-section depending on the type. It is red, as is typical of the variety, has few cavities and a skin that comes off easily.

In the tin the tomatoes are red, free from foreign smells and tastes, and the drained weight is at least 65 % of the net weight; whole tomatoes must be intact. Table salt up to 3 %, basil leaves, citric acid up to 0.5 % and tomato juice obtained only from San Marzano tomatoes from the area are permitted.

Production

The tomatoes grow exclusively on irrigated flat land with deep, loose soils of volcanic material; protected cultivation is allowed to shield the plants from pests. Planting usually takes place in the first half of April, sometimes up to the first ten days of May, with at least 40 cm between plants in the row and 110 cm between rows. The plants are trained up trellises with wire; methods that artificially alter ripening are prohibited.

The harvest runs from 30 July to 30 September, by hand only and in several passes, each time picking the fully ripe fruit. They are placed in plastic crates of 25 to 30 kg and taken from the collection points in labelled containers of up to 250 kg to the canneries of the area. The yield is at most 80 t per hectare. In the canneries the tomatoes are washed, sorted, peeled and picked over, and for the filleted product also cut open and drained, then filled, topped up with liquid, sealed, sterilised and cooled.

Origin & history

The area lies in the provinces of Salerno, Avellino and Naples, on the plain bounded to the north-west by Vesuvius and to the south by the Lattari mountains; hills and non-irrigated land are not included. The soils come from the eruptions of Vesuvius and from pre-Apennine formations and, according to the specification, are among the most fertile in Italy. The climate is moderated by the sea, frost is short and hail rare. In summer there is hardly any rain, but humidity is high, and numerous springs and groundwater provide water.

According to the specification, the San Marzano variety originated here. Luigi Leggieri wrote in 1940 that it was selected from tomato crops near Fiano between Nocera Inferiore and Sarno and then grown in San Marzano sul Sarno. In 1934 Ferruccio Zago called the peeled tomato industry “the whole pride of Campania” and the San Marzano variety, also called “Lunga” because of its elongated shape, its foundation.