I am a pizza fanatic and so I am always on the lookout for better ingredients. I have been using the Cento Italian in the 35oz can available here on Amazon. Note this is not the same thing as the “Italian Style” available in some stores. The real Italian is much better. In fact the reason I have been using the Cento for some time now is due to the recommendations from the pizza forum I’m on. I just got my latest order of Cento in as well as this Bianco Dinapoli. I very slightly blended both as I normally do for pizza. The Bianco had slightly larger chunks after blending. Appears to be a slightly firmer fruit than the Cento. This is good in my opinion. Seems fresher and Bianco did not resort to additives to achieve this like most other canned tomatoes. There are three simple ingredients. Tomatoes, salt, and basil. Now to the tasting.
I should preface this by saying that up to now the Cento has been the best canned tomato I have ever had. I’ve tried quite a few of the tomato products used in the pizza industry such as Stanislaus Full-Red, Escalon 6 in 1, Stanislaus Alta Cucina and a few others. I did quite like the Alta Cucina but the Cento was better in my book and good value. All that said this taste test is between the Bianco Dinapoli and Cento Italian. The Bianco made me look at the Cento in a whole new light. The Bianco has an amazingly bright clean tomato taste. Good sweetness with well balanced acidity. The fresh basil used in the Bianco is hands down the best I have ever had in a canned tomato product. I’m a bit of a basil snob. I grow it fresh in my garden. Most canned tomatoes that include basil over cook the basil such that it is super wilted and has a stewy taste. The Bianco product manages to retain the bright aromatics of the basil. The same thing applies to the tomatoes. The Bianco is the freshest tasting I have ever had out of a can. In contrast the Cento tastes stewed with much of the brightness of a fresh tomato lost. The basil included is bland and limp. There is also an overriding acidity that is off-putting. I want to reiterate that this is not something I noticed about the Cento until I had it back to back with the Bianco. But it is very clear that the Bianco Dinapoli is far and away a better product. I probably will continue to get the Cento for use in spaghetti as it costs significantly less but for pizza, my true love, Bianco Dinapoli is going to be the new standard.
Major update 4/1/22.
And disregard the date this is note a joke. I have been planning a trip across the US to visit some of the pizza greats like Di Fara’s, Pepe’s, L’Antica Pizzaria, and what lead me to this update, Una Pizza Napoletana. Una is run by someone much like myself. A perfectionist named Anthony Mangieri. When I saw he had a can of Rega DOP tomatoes in his shop I took that as a strong suggestion I might be missing out on something as I’ve never had the Rega. I purchased the Rega from Amazon and did a taste test. Let me start by saying that my latest order of the Bianco Di Napoli Whole peeled which is what I gushed about in my original review needs revisiting. On opening the first can from the latest order of Bianco whole peeled I noticed it didn’t blow me away like before. I didn’t think anything much of it at the time and assumed my pallet must be off. But when pulling another can out to test against the Rega I noticed something peculiar. The ingredients have changed. A lot. For a perfectionist anyway. The older whole peeled Bianco had three ingredients. Tomatoes, basil, and salt. Now the ingredients are listed as Organic tomatoes, organic tomato juice, sea salt, and Citric acid. Gone is the bright aromatics of the basil. Fine. I grow my own fresh basil so no loss there. But something else is amiss. Also gone is the bright punch of tomato that was there before. Left behind is still a very hearty well rounded taste. I initially began my taste testing of the new Whole peeled Bianco vs the Rega DOP. The Rega DOP ingredients are tomatoes, tomato juice. End of story. Beautiful.
Now to the tasting. I was not expecting what I found. The Rega was significantly more watery. The fruit themselves were far less firm than the Bianco. Almost melting in your hand trying to pick them up. Firm or soft is not inherently good or bad. Just letting you know. The Bianco is packed in more of a paste than a juice despite what the label says. Now as to taste. The Bianco had depth of, or roundness of flavor, that the Rega just did not have. Low notes really. Almost like the Bianco were magically concentrated. Is this the paste in action? It is also notably sweeter than the Rega. By a lot. I think this is why my 10 year old daughter liked the Bianco better. But both me and my wife agree the Rega was better. Why? Even though it tasted more watered down and lacked very much sweetness at all there was an extremely bright super fresh tomato taste. See here’s the thing. I can add sweetness if need be but I cannot add fresh tomato taste. That has to be done on the farm and in canning. The Rega would be significantly better in mission critical cases where the tomatoes have to do almost all the talking, such as with a true Neapolitan style pizza. The Rega won this hands down much to my surprise.
Here is where things got stranger. I remembered I had a can of Bianco DiNapoli Crushed tomatoes in the blue can. So busted that out and added it to the mix. Now the Rega tasted severely watered down. In comparison with the Bianco Crushed that is. The Crushed retained the fullness of the bottom end notes, but added in the brightness and acidity of the Rega on top. The Crushed….how can I describe it?…crushed the other two! Seriously. It was like the marriage of the best things of the other two all in one can. Or was it. I decided to test this. I mixed equal parts Rega and Bianco Whole Peeled after I had blended them. The result still fell far behind the Bianco Crushed. The Crushed had rich fruity tones neither of the other two had. Then I made a mixture of about two thirds Bianco Whole and one third Rega. This was the closest I could come to replicating the Crushed but still fell short.
So if I had to crown a winner today, with these three cans I would have to say the Bianco Crushed wins hands down followed by the Rega and then the Bianco Whole. But something tells me the story doesn’t end here. The best by date on my Crushed was Sept 2023, the Bianco Whole Sept 2024, and the Rega just says “Crop 2018”.
Now I know can to can of the same brand and type can vary month to month and year to year but something more profound is going on with these Bianco DiNapoli Whole peeled. I think something happened in the supply chain to cause Bianco to change its recipe. I can’t prove that. But I know what I taste. It’s not the same. It’s still really really good mind you. Maybe the crop for the “use by 2024” cans was just a bad year for the crops. Or maybe it was that and supply issues. I worry that the next cans of newer Crushed will be similarly affected. Folks these are all world class tomatoes but as it is for so many things in life it’s hard to stay on top. As for me I will continue to trust…but verify. Next test? On a pizza.
'ORGANIC TOMATOES, SEA SALT AND ORGANIC BASIL.'
