Tomato sauce from Migliorelli Farm

Tomato sauce from Migliorelli Farm

A food review by Daniel B.

I don’t buy jarred tomato sauce. Not when it is so quick and easy to make yourself. Perhaps I’m the wrong person to evaluate this offering made from Migliorelli Farm in Tivoli, New York. Even the fanciest and most expensive jarred pasta sauces from famous restaurants and internationally known celebrities have failed to impress me.

The farm though has a great story that dates back to 1933 when Angelo Migliorelli came to New York from Lazio Italy, with what I like to imagine was nothing more than a pocketful of broccoli rabe seeds. The part about the seeds though is true.

Today you can buy the ancestors of that same strain of brocolli rabe at farmers markets around the state. I’ve picked some up at the Schenectady Greenmarket, and it’s fantastic. Their tomato sauces leverage that same heritage as they are, “Made following our very own family recipes.” So with great trepidation, I decided to give it a try.

Their ingredients are straightforward enough: San Marzano tomatoes, fresh onions, olive oil, fresh garlic, basil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and vitamin C.

The last part is a little amusing, but I’m not going to hold it against them. This may be going out on a limb, however I doubt that nonna Migliorelli ground up some of her vitamin C tablets to throw into her sauce. It is shorthand for ascorbic acid, which is used as a natural preservative. I’m okay with that, and I’m even okay with them using the “No Preservatives” claim despite the obvious addition of vitamin C to the product.

On the plus side, this sauce is thick and rich. Its texture and body are fantastic. Where it falls a bit short are on measures of flavor and aroma. But I have always believed that jarred sauces are a starting point and not a finished product. They are a canvas that allows the home cook to customize them based on their palate.

One of the things that is missing is the sweetness I associate with tomatoes. But that is easily remedied with a sweeter, low acidity balsamic vinegar. My mother’s old trick was simply a spoonful of table sugar, but I like how balsamic helps to bring out more tomato flavor.

And that’s lacking too. So I might not recommend this in a dish where a tomato flavor is the primary component. One of the recipes on the back of the jar called for adding sauteed mushrooms to the sauce. It’s easy to see how their earthiness could play well with the richness of this product. Given its thickness, I could also imagine spreading it on toast points, and topping with roasted eggplant and peppers.

Perhaps that’s not such a ringing endorsement, but consider this. Buying Migliorelli Farm tomato sauce doesn’t just help support this amazing farm. It is also a product of Farm-to-Table co-packers in Kingston, NY. It’s a revolutionary facility that is aimed to give small farms the access they need to freeze and jar their extra produce so it doesn’t find its way into the compost heap.

Farm-to-Table co-packers also produces a tomato juice for Migliorelli, which I hear is pretty good stuff.

Ultimately I’m still on the side of picking up tomatoes from the Migliorelli stand at the farmers market, seeding them, collecting the juice, and making my own sauce. No, I don’t jar it. But I’ve been known to portion it out and keep sauce in the chest freezer to pull out during those cold winter months for a taste of summer sunshine.

Although for those who favor convenience, there is always the jar.

About Daniel B.

A west coast transplant now living in Albany, Daniel Berman is applying his communication strategy background to food writing with the ultimate goal of improving the culinary landscape in the Capital Region. He writes the FUSSYlittleBLOG and contributes regularly to All Over Albany.