Napolina Peeled Plum Tomatoes in Tomato Juice > Reviews (1)

I make a lot of meals from scratch and tinned tomatoes are a handy essential in my cupboards. Tinned tomatoes are very versatile and I usually use them in soups and stews to bulk the meal out a bit as well as to add flavour. When it comes to tinned tomatoes I have never been too fussy, however as I felt that the value brand that I was buying prior to this brand wasn't the best quality, I decided to try the Napolina tomatoes as they were recently reduced by quite a substantial amount and although I do think the full RRP is a little overpriced, I was happy paying the reduced price as these tomatoes are well known to be good quality and tasty.

Napolina tinned tomatoes are available from all good supermarkets. I picked up a pack of four of the 400 gram tins from my local Tesco and paid a very reasonable £2 - a bargain in my opinion as the RRP is a hefty £4.89! I will definitely be picking up another multi-pack while they're still on offer as it works out at just 50p per can - not much more than a can of the value tinned tomatoes and the individual 400 grams of these exact tinned tomatoes retail at £1.23.

These tomatoes can be purchased either in packs of our or individually. There are a range of types including plum and chopped, and plain or with added garlic. I was going to get the garlic as I thought it'd save me adding my own garlic to meals and it thought it'd be very handy, however the shelf with this particular type was sold out and I ended up getting the plum tomatoes which have been peeled and are in a rich tomato juice - on a side note these tomatoes seem to be really popular and sell out quickly when on offer.

These tomatoes are described by Napolina as 'the best quality fruit, ripened and sweetened under the Italian sun.' The ingredients is all natural and there are no nasty sounding chemicals or flavourings - the ingredients in one can of the plum tomatoes is tomatoes (65%),tomato juice and citric acid. The packaging is minimalistic but easily recogniseable, the four cans come packaged in a row of two and are packed into a cardboard box with a black colour scheme along with white font clearly written on both the top and front of the packet. This simply states the brand and what the packet contains. There's a picture of a row of plump, juicy tomatoes along with an Italian flag. The cardboard packet is easy to remove and can be recycled.

The tins have an identical colour scheme and each tin is 400 grams which is a very generous amount. The tins have a ring pull so are quick and easy to open and can be recycled. The contents of the tin is simply plum tomatoes in a thick tomato juice. The tomatoes are large and have been peeled. I suppose the only downside to this particular type of tomato is that it does need blending a majority of the time although if you are making a chunky curry then obviously this isn't necessary.

I usually transfer the contents into my blender and blend until smooth, which does not take long at all. I then transfer it into soups, chilli concarne, stews, curries and so on, or I alternatively chop it into smaller chunks.

I suppose people will wonder 'why didn't you just buy the chopped ones?' but as I said before, these were the only ones left on the shelf as the brand sells so quickly when on offer. The tomatoes look and smell fresh and have a rich smell to them rather than the sweet tomato type of smell that ketchup smells like. The sauce is not watery or thin, it has the consistency of tomato soup meaning if you did what to make it into a soup all you would have to do is blend and add a bit of cream - a very quick and healthy meal!

The tomatoes cook well, and even if they're in the slow cooker with fish or veg for a few hours they don't go soggy. I have found that they add a lot of thickness and texture to meals too. They taste lovely and fresh and the texture is just right. You can tell that they are good quality and the taste is rich so you don't need a lot of them, meaning one can will last for separate meals. These tomatoes are handy for a lot of different recipes and meals - in fact me and my boyfriend made homemade pizzas yesterday and we puréed a tin of the tomatoes in the blender and used it as a base as it was thick enough and it tasted amazing!! I was concerned when buying these tomatoes that because they were whole they may have hard pips or skin on them, however they are completely peeled and I've not had any issues with excessive amounts of pips.

Health wise, these are very good for you and have lots of nutrients and vitamins. They are also low in fat and have just 0.5 grams of fat per 100 grams. Calorie wise, there are 23 calories per 100 grams which is very low considering how tasty and filling a portion is! Overall, I do recommend this brand of tomatoes. They are very handy for anyone who makes meals from scratch and I am impressed with the quality. Although I wouldn't pay full price (almost a fiver for four!!), I am certainly going to stock up while they are on offer!!