Fresh tomatoes picked from Masseria Mirogallo's own fields, are blanched in boiling water, hand-peeled, and passed through a sieve. Full-bodied and aromatic, these strained tomatoes are the perfect base for delicious sauces.
The key to the best tomato sauce starts with fresh tomatoes picked at the perfect moment of ripeness—as done by the Belfiore family of Masseria Mirogallo. After harvest, the tomatoes are immediately processed into a passata (fresh tomato purée, or strained tomatoes) and bottled when the purée is rich and dense in texture. The Belfiore family is masterful at capturing the balance of sweetness and acidity that graces the perfectly ripe summer tomato.
Thanks to the care that goes into the jar, these tomatoes save you considerable time in the kitchen. Use passata the way the Italians do, the simplest way of all, cooked as a sauce with onion or garlic and basil.
The Belfiore family farm, known as the Masseria Mirogallo, sits on 70 acres of land in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The family specializes in cultivating heirloom vegetables, from which they handcraft exceptional pantry products. The Belfiore brothers are quick to point out that everything they put in a jar comes from their fields, and that the only preservatives that they use are vinegar and salt. From the perfectly ripe tomatoes to the luscious extra virgin olive oil in every tomato sauce, each ingredient is grown on their farm. Not only do the ingredients come from the family's own fields, but they are also processed just steps away, often mere minutes after being picked. The vine-ripened tomatoes are blanched, hand-peeled, and made into passata (fresh tomato purée) in small batches.