San Marzano Paste
solanum lycopersicum

days to Maturity: 80 days
plant spacing: 2 square feet per plant
sunlight requirement: 8 - 14 hours
look out for: Hornworms and white flies
harvest notes: Pick tomatoes when they are as ripe as possible. They should be fully colored and firm and picked regularly to avoid overloading plants.
season: fall, winter
indeterminate

A classic heirloom variety from Italy. A preferred standard with Italian farmers and the source for the famed canned San Marzano for tomato sauce. Compact and prolific producer of bright-red, slim, 2-3 inch, plum-type, fruit over a long season. A paste tomato with pointy end, heavy walls and little juice, so it’s great for a delicious tomato sauce. Crack resistant. Many find this variety better tasting than Roma.

Paste tomatoes are bred for more pulpy dry thicker flesh and less seeds, so grow these if you want to do some sauce making and canning. If you aren’t interested in making paste, consider growing them anyways! Paste tomatoes are just less watery than other tomatoes, which makes their flavor more intense and concentrated. Theres no reason why you cant eat them in salads, or fresh, just because they are “good for sauce”.