Two years unopened. Four days chilled once opened.
On the palate
Bright, high-acid, unmistakably fresh — closer to a raw tomato than a cooked one.
Where this dish comes from
Home canning of tomatoes follows directly from Nicolas Appert, the Parisian confectioner who in 1795 answered Napoleon's prize for a way to feed an army and discovered that food sealed in glass and heated would keep indefinitely. He published in 1810, fifty years before Pasteur explained why it worked.
Southern Italy turned the technique into a household ritual. The August conserva day — whole families peeling, bottling and boiling in the courtyard — is still observed from Campania to Puglia, and the jars are counted out to last exactly until next August.
The San Marzano's reputation was made by the canning houses of the Sarno valley and defended by chefs like Gennaro Contaldo and, in New York, by Marc Vetri and the pizzaioli of Naples' Da Michele and Sorbillo, who will use nothing else.
How we make it
We add no water and no purée. A commercial tin is typically topped up with juice or paste to fill the headspace; ours is only tomato, so it reduces rather than dilutes.
Sealing the same afternoon matters more than any other decision. A tomato picked ripe loses its aromatic top notes within about eight hours, and no amount of care afterwards puts them back.
Same-day hot pack
Under 4 hours field to jar
01Picked in a single morning at full field ripeness.
02Blanched thirty seconds, slipped of their skins, kept whole.
03Jarred with a basil leaf and a pinch of sea salt — no water, no paste.
04Sealed before the afternoon heat breaks.
Crushed by hand into a pan with oil and garlic; twenty minutes is a sauce.
THE INGREDIENT LEDGER
Every defining ingredient, named: who grew or caught it, where, when it was taken, what it has meant to the people who kept it, and what it does for you.
San Marzano-type tomatoes
Picked at full colour, 14–21 August 2025
Farm / fishery
Valley Farm, dry-farmed on hillside blocks
Region
Sonoma County, California
History
The San Marzano line came from a seed gift to the Kingdom of Naples in 1770 and became the fixed point of southern Italian cooking.
Why it is good for you
Cooked tomatoes release far more lycopene than raw; a strong antioxidant linked to heart and prostate health.
Nutrition, roughly
Per 100 g: 18 kcal · 3 g sugar · vitamin C, potassium, lycopene.
Genovese basil
Cut the same mornings, August 2025
Farm / fishery
Grown in rows between the tomato blocks
Region
Sonoma County
History
Basil arrived in the Mediterranean from India along the spice roads and was planted beside tomatoes long before anyone knew why it helped.
Why it is good for you
Aromatic oils with anti-inflammatory activity; a leaf or two per jar.
Nutrition, roughly
Negligible.
Nutrition figures are typical values for the ingredient itself and are given as a guide, not as a dietary claim. Harvest dates refer to the batch printed on your lid.
