Cans of peeled tomatoes?

Anyone else noticed the price of peeled tomatoes in cans has gone through the roof recently, and the quality available is pretty poor. I used to think paying around 40nt for a price of kagome canned tomatoes was on the high side, but now they are 80!! I try not to compare, but I can get top quality italian canned tomatoes back in the UK for about 35nt!! I am not willing to use Hunts, as they are just terrible, and was wondering whether anyone has any info regarding other good brands, or places that stock decent canned tomatoes - I live on the things!..lasagnes…pasta dishes…curries…Italian seafood soup etc.
Thanks!
TFL

Yeah it’s a shame. The new $80 dollar ones seem to be Japanese labeled as opposed to the Taiwan labeled old ones. still italian imported though i think. I snapped up a bunch of the old ones while i could so not hurting yet. I was gonna call up the company and find out what’s up.

I saw argentinian ones at jason’s at $55, i was thinking of giving them a shot. the hunts ones are beyond bad.

Last week they were still around NT40+ in Carrefor.

oh? hopefully a new batch.

Carrefour also has their own brand which I can’t remember how much they are the moment. I also found a decent glass jar of crushed tomatoes in Carrefour imported from France for NT$55. The canned tomatoes in Costco are terrible imho as well.
FYI, Breeze Super has LIDL tinned tomatoes for NT$110 a can… :loco:

My local Yumaowu supermarket had no canned tomatoes last weekend, and an employee told me that “it’s because of the typhoons last summer”. I didn’t really understand the connection, but I don’t know anything about the canned tomato industry.

I guess you guys don’t want to hear this, but:

Stewed Tomatoes
2 pounds tomatoes, peeled, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon finely minced onion, optional
1 tablespoon finely minced green bell pepper, optional

Place tomatoes in a medium saucepan; cover tightly. Cook tomatoes over lowest heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the salt, pepper, sugar, and butter, along with minced onion and green pepper, if using. Simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until juices are slightly reduced. Serves 4.

It’s the easiest thing in the world. If it’s really the typhoon, though, this may not be cheaper.

Too hard? I think so, but use them anyway. They’re the cheapest (if I recall correctly) and most convenient. I often chop them further on a cutting board, and always stew them a while longer, similar to housecat’s description (or I just start with fresh). I also have a potato masher for crushing them further whie they’re stewing. So they end up the right consistency, with little effort. After all, I’m going to have that sauce simmering for quite a bit of time and the tomatoes will soften during that time anyway. :idunno: Nothing I’m going to use canned tomatoes in is a quickie dish so I’m not in a hurry to get the tomatoes soft.

When fresh tomatoes are cheap, I just use them, and stew them like hc says (but with good quality olive oil, fresh basil and rosemary, and other dried herbs, a whole large chopped onion and a LOT of garlic). I don’t bother to peel them though. Make in quantity, and freeze in useful portion sizes for future use.

For the record, I don’t use butter, either. I use olive oil only–butter even sounds gross to me. I just clipped the recipie from the web. You could adjust it any way you like. Just a BIT of curry powder is one of my faves. Sometimes a touch of cilantro is just the thing. This is basic and easy stuff. I know the can’s are quicker though, but these are healthier.

[quote=“Taiwan for Life”]Anyone else noticed the price of peeled tomatoes in cans has gone through the roof recently, and the quality available is pretty poor. I used to think paying around 40nt for a price of kagome canned tomatoes was on the high side, but now they are 80!! I try not to compare, but I can get top quality italian canned tomatoes back in the UK for about 35nt!! I am not willing to use Hunts, as they are just terrible, and was wondering whether anyone has any info regarding other good brands, or places that stock decent canned tomatoes - I live on the things!..lasagnes…pasta dishes…curries…Italian seafood soup etc.
Thanks!
TFL[/quote]

I didn’t know that buying, blanching and dicing tomatoes was that expensive or difficult.

For those who don’t know what blanching is, boil some water and place some tomatoes (preferably cold from the fridge) into the water for a minute or two. Remove the tomatoes and you can easily peel off the skin in seconds.

As for the prices of cans, blame the shipping costs. Oil is back up to US$75 a barrel, if nobody’s noticed.

Well, the problem is that fresh tomatoes are usually outrageously expensive here, I have no idea why.
And yes, the ones in Costco are not only too hard, but they don’t cut out the part that connects to the stem and I only seem to be getting that part when I buy them. :raspberry:
RTMart also has its own brand of passata which really isn’t half bad, as it’s quite thick and creamy, but of course no chunks of tomato in it.
I’m sure I found cheap tinned cherry tomatoes there under their own brand as well, something like NT$40 a can, but it was a while ago.
Is it just me, or is it really time consuming going shopping in Taiwan unless you want to spend a small fortune of basics?
I don’t know how to cook most local food and in general it’s cheaper to eat that outside anyhow, but half of the time cooking what I consider to be basic stuff is a real hassle here.
I can find all sorts of bizarre things on sale here, Carrefour for example stocks glass jars of head cheese (or something similar from France), you can get all kinds of imported olive oils and pasta, some even for very reasonable money, yet the actual sauce ingredients will set you back 5-10 times what they should cost… :loco:

[quote=“Tempo Gain”]Yeah it’s a shame. The new $80 dollar ones seem to be Japanese labeled as opposed to the Taiwan labeled old ones. still italian imported though I think. I snapped up a bunch of the old ones while i could so not hurting yet. I was gonna call up the company and find out what’s up.

I saw argentinian ones at jason’s at $55, I was thinking of giving them a shot. the hunts ones are beyond bad.[/quote]

Did you know that a high percentage of ‘Italian’ labeled tomatoes actually are grown and canned in China … go figure … and it’s not copy or fake … Italian canning factories have contracts with Chinese tomato growers and factories … :ponder:

Well my wife just got back from the market with some nice looking tomatoes. They cost NT$15 dollars each!!!

I can make most canned tomatoes taste really nice by adding a tablespoon of high quality sundried tomato paste.

Not sure whether anyone else does this with their tomato sauces or not, but I also just chop an onion in half and simmer it in olive oil and then let it cook with the canned tomatoes rather than dicing it into the sauce. This way, I get all the flavour and the sauce is a lot smoother.

That’s because the natural sugars are released from the onion … onion contain lot’s of natural ‘sugar’, as does garlic in fact … letting sweat the onions in the pan does wonders and makes your sauce taste real smooth … tomatoes - acid, onion - sugars …

Costco, large cans (2.* kg) of dice tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, passata … not too expensive …

I get a can of paste, large, then spoon it into miniature ziplocks and freeze them so I can add a TBSP or two to sauces as needed without buying or opening an new can. But I usually only bother if I want a thicker pizza sauce that won’t sog the dough or something.

Definitely saute the onions and garlic in olive oil first, for flavor. But I like a very chunky sauce with all the veggies left in, personally.

As for eating out being cheaper and all that, if you buy the Costco tomatoes and get a bulk tin of good oil from P&P, onions and garlic at the wet market and so on, it’s cheaper to make your own tomato pasta at home, and if you know what you’re doing, it’s far tastier than 95% ore more of the local pasta shops, which, IMO, suck goat balls.

Sure, but you’re running a restaurant, for home use that’s just not practical, is it?
I bought the large tin of mushrooms once, but they died in the freezer and came out really rubbery when cooked. So ok, fresh mushrooms are pretty cheap here, but the texture are different and doesn’t always work with all dishes.

[quote=“Dragonbones”]
As for eating out being cheaper and all that, if you buy the Costco tomatoes and get a bulk tin of good oil from P&P, onions and garlic at the wet market and so on, it’s cheaper to make your own tomato pasta at home, and if you know what you’re doing, it’s far tastier than 95% ore more of the local pasta shops, which, IMO, suck goat balls.[/quote]

I was referring to local food, not pasta, as you’re indeed correct, much of the local pasta places are horrible. I would never consider buying the “cheap” pasta sauces in jars here as I have no idea what they put in them.

And NT$15 a tomato isn’t really cheap, considering that they cost something like NT$45 a kg where I’m from and there’s more than three tomatoes to one kg.

Sure, but you’re running a restaurant, for home use that’s just not practical, is it?[/quote]

Eat … a lot … it’s good for your prostate …

Tomatoes or eating a lot? :smiley: