When it comes to Italian cuisine it’s important to use good quality Italian tomatoes and to start from excellent raw material. “Italian cuisine, unlike others, is very much about the ingredients,” says Juan Pablo Carnevale, Export Area manager for Canada for Mutti. “We use a few ingredients, normally four to six, and we have simple recipes. Also the cooking time is normally short. So high-quality and tasty ingredients are the base of Italian cuisine.”
According to Carneval, Italian tomatoes have a specific taste that relates to the soil, the varieties and to the Mediterranean weather. Of the 300 different varieties cultivated in Italy, Parma-based Mutti uses about 30 of them. Each variety is selected according to the response to the specific soil of each area and to the weather conditions.
“They are divided according to the best varieties to be harvested in late July to early August (early varieties), mid to late August (mid varieties) and early to mid-September (late varieties),” says Carnevale. “Each variety is selected according to the response to the specific soil of each area and to the weather conditions. Every year we try to find new and better varieties and launching new products that include the use of them so that we can increase our creativity and the flavour in our kitchens.” For example, he says, the company’s new baby Roma tomato ready sauce is made with a specific variety of baby Roma tomatoes that is naturally very sweet.
Mutti keeps the freshness and flavour of the tomatoes by doing the least possible processing and by using lower temperatures during the heating, steaming and pasteurization processes. “The fact is, you can only make tomatoes worse in the factory,” says Carnevale. “You cannot make them any better. This is why it is important to start [with] excellent raw material and why we pay our farmers a premium price for higher quality [tomatoes].”
Carnevale says Mutti is now expanding into Canada. “We are now ready to take our tomatoes to the most demanding consumers all over the world. Or at least, to the ones who appreciate an environmentally friendly, simple and tasty product,” he says. “Canada is one of our focus markets and I love this country: It is very European, multicultural and there is a strong social consciousness. There is a great culinary scene, and I believe the connection with Italian food and culture is great.”
