Pomodoro San Marzano — Agro Sarnese-Nocerino, Campania

The San Marzano tomato belongs to the plain of the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino, in the province of Salerno, on the volcanic soil beneath Vesuvius, and takes its name from the town of San Marzano sul Sarno. It is the tomato of the Neapolitan kitchen, and Jeanne Carola Francesconi, in La Cucina Napoletana, treats the tomato sauce and the preserved tomato as the foundation of the city's pasta, pizza and ragù. It is carried by the growers of the Sarno valley and by the canning houses of the area, and it belongs to the Neapolitan tradition of preserving the summer crop for use through the year.

Solanum lycopersicum, in the San Marzano type, is a plum tomato of elongated, narrow form, with a pointed tip and a deep red skin when ripe. The flesh is thick and firm, the seeds are few and the pulp is low in water, which gives a dense sauce with little reduction. It is sold as pomodori pelati, whole and peeled in their own juice, as filetti, and fresh in late summer. The designation Pomodoro S. Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino D.O.P. protects the product grown and packed within the defined area.

The tomato is eaten with spaghetti and other dried pasta, on the pizza of Naples, with basil, olive oil and garlic, and with mozzarella di bufala, where its acidity cuts the milky richness of the cheese. It is drunk with the red wines of Campania, such as Aglianico, or with a young white such as Falanghina, since the acidity of the fruit asks for a wine of equal freshness and moderate alcohol. The thick flesh and low water content let the sauce coat the pasta rather than pool beneath it.