Choosing the Right Tomatoes for Neapolitan Pizza

What makes a tomato perfect for Neapolitan pizza? On a simple pizza, like a Marinara or Margherita, you need a product that has the right balance of consistency, acidity, freshness, and flavor.  

But should it be cooked first? How should the tomatoes be crushed? With a mill? With your hands? With an immersion blender? Should it be dense? 

The Perfect Tomato

According to the official document of all the principles of the Art of the Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo, now a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, the tomato for the Marinara and Margherita Pizza must be: fresh or peeled. In the case of peeled tomatoes, you can choose between the Roma and San Marzano varieties which must be drained and crushed by hand to obtain the right consistency. 

For Neapolitan Pizza, the following parameters must be taken into consideration:  

1. Density: considering the addition of other ingredients and subsequent cooking in the oven, the tomato should not be too viscous, but also not too dense. 
2. Freshness: a tomato that has been harvested and stored for a few hours allows you to preserve the natural flavor of the tomato. 
3. Acidity: a balance of sugar and acid, which must therefore be kept at the right degree of ripeness. 
4. Flavor: according to the Verace Pizza disciplinary, the tomato must be salted in advance, not directly on the dough. This means that the freshly opened product must contain a portion of salt that includes this step before cooking.  

Ciao, the tomato of Naples, is VPN certified and therefore meets and exceeds all of the requirements for an excellent authentic pizza!