By Michelle Fabio

If you want to impress someone (including yourself) with the best pasta sauce, San Marzano tomatoes are the way to go.

They are a type of plum tomato that grow in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius in the region of Campania, Italy and benefit from the rich, fertile volcanic soil. They are generally thinner and pointier than the Roma tomato, and have a stronger, less sweet, less acidic taste.
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By Michelle Fabio

Israeli company Nirit Seeds Ltd. has come up with what it calls a “fool proof” and the world’s first interactive tomato plant—the Minimato.

It’s a dwarf cherry tomato plant that grows to about 14” and is designed for growing in the home. For the most inexperienced (but willing to learn) harvesters out there, there is even a website in the works to help out with any questions.
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By Michelle Fabio

If you’re looking for some of the sweetest, firmest, shiniest tomatoes with a long shelf life to boot, you need the small, red, juicy variety from Pachino, Sicily.

Pachino tomatoes are rightfully famous, especially in Italy and Europe, and so treasured that a few years ago in their home country they were granted IGP status—a designation similar to the D.O.C. designation for wines, in this case certifying that at least part of the production of a product is in a particular area.
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By Michelle Fabio

In the English language, we know our favorite fruit as a tomato, but the Italians call it something completely different: “il pomodoro.” Doesn’t it just roll off your tongue?

But where does that name come from?

First we need to go back to the beginning. Although tomatoes are a relatively new addition to the dinner table, the Italians were some of the first to regularly use (and love) these strange fruits brought from The New World to Europe–the English and Americans still thought they were poisonous for another couple hundred years.

And so it is only fitting that the Italian name for the tomato reflects its golden status in the culture’s cuisine. One theory is that the reference to “oro” (gold) comes from the color of those early tomato skins or from the verb “adorare” (to adore).
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By Amelia Tucker

When planting hybrid tomatoes, are you safe from escape plants for the next season? No!

Hybrid tomatoes are a combination of varieties making a third plant with the desired qualities of the first two plants in it.

When you save the seeds from a hybrid tomato, you have no idea what variety will grow the following year.
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By Amelia Tucker

Often when searching for a great Italian recipe, you will see the Roma type tomato recommended.

What is a Roma tomato and why is it so special?

A Roma tomato looks quite different from the regular shaped tomatoes that you are used to. They are oblong and often have a pointy bottom instead of a relatively flat one.
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