San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

[WJW]

For those interested...Green Thumb now has San Marzano tomatos. They have locations all over Southern Cal.

I got four plants in the ground today.

Bill

[Gary Mots]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

Right on man, I'm looking for some to, I'll have to check the Green Thumb Nursery around here. Thanks for the heads up.

[Gulf]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I'm looking for them locally. So far I have only found them in the seed packet. A little late for our early growing season this year. Until then I'll have to settle for Marion tomatoes grown in chicken sht and copius amounts of water .

[Gels]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

So how do you go about making the sauce with the fresh San Marzano tomatos after they grow?

[WJW]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

Never having done it with San Marzanos...you should take my advice with caution...

That being said, what I have seen is folks dipping the tomatos in boiling water for a few seconds, dropping them in cold water to stop cooking, pull the skins off, cut the bottom end of the tomato off, squeeze out the seeds, mash tomato with potato masher, add some oregano (fresh if you've got it), a bit of garlic, basil, (fresh), and a pinch of salt...spread thinnly on pizza. Add toppings sparingly...cook it up and eat.

Bill

[Pizza Fermentor]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I just bought 3 San Marzano plants at my local nursery here in NE Ohio.

I tilled some ash from my past few pizza firings into the garden soil. Should effectively simulate that volcanic Italian dirt? Hope the D.O.P. police don't catch wind of my operation.

[RandyJ]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I got one from a local green house as well. So far it is doing very well so farit just climbed over the top of a 4' basket and has lots of little tomatoes. I will keep you posted as to how it turns out later this summer.

Randy

[Tscarborough]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

The San Marzanos I have grown (in pozzolan rich soil) were not that great. Good, but not worth the effort. Any local tomato will be better, just be sure to gut it for the seeds and jelly. Home or local grown plums are easier to grow, more prolific, and produce a great fresh sauce. If you are not going to cook the sauce, be prepared for orange sauce. Note that all canned/bottled tomatoes are cooked to some degree.

[WJW]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I planted my san marzanos on March 20. Ninety-six days later my plants are well over six feet tall and have hundreds of little tomatos like the ones pictured below.

[Pizza Fermentor]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I hope this thread stays alive. I'm really curious to see how people feel the garden-grown (vs. canned) tomatoes compare.

Mine are growing well, but still a couple weeks from harvest.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

My ones are about 6 inches high (winter in the sub tropics so probably a good month away from harvest.)
Home grown organic sun ripened will taste way better than canned.
Get half the crop ,they usually ripen on mass in 2 or 3 lots over the season (depending on your climate)
Cut them in half take out the core cook until slightly soft with a bit of salt.
Run through your passatta machine a few times to get some salsa/passata and jar with one basil leaf
....next crop
boil in water for a few seconds plunge in ice water peel and jar using some of the first salsa/passatta.
for pizza sauce straight passata is best

[RandyJ]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

Mine are now over 4' tall already and were only planted in mid may. They also have a ton of little tomato bud already as wells hopefully they turn out. This is my first attempt at a gardens we will see what happens. I built a 4'x8' 18" raised bed out of maintain free decking and put 4 tomato plants 6 pepper plants some herbs garlic and onions around the side.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

They like basil growing with them and also marigolds are good as a bug deterrent.

[RandyJ]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

So how did everyone else's crop turn out? I got a ton of tomatoes. I don't know if any one has tried juliet tomatoes, but they are like a small Roma. That has Ben my best producer by far. I have been getting about a cool whip bowl full every day or two all summer off that one plant. But it kinda vined over all the other plants as well so it hampered some of the others a little.

Randy

[WJW]

Re: San Marzano Tomatos at Green Thumb

I did four bushes of san marzanos. I have already harvested approx two hundred and fifty and have at least another two hundred to go.

I've made about a gallon and a half of sauce. I've frozen bunch of zip lock bags and break them out when I want. It's good, but I'm not at all sure it's worth the effort. I think I prefer the larger tomatos and putting them on sandwhiches.

Bill