Latest news with #foodindustry
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Genius Tomato Sauce Upgrade Italians Have Always Known About
There's a better tomato sauce—and it's been hiding in plain sight. Passata, Italy's go-to smooth tomato purée, has slowly but steadily made its way into mainstream American grocery stores over the past several years, no longer the exclusive domain of Italian delis and specialty importers. This shift is largely due to increased distribution from major brands like Mutti and Cento. That said, it's still often lamentably relegated to the bottom shelf of the canned vegetable aisle, hidden beneath jars of premade pasta sauces—overlooked, underused, and misunderstood. But passata deserves top billing, and it's time to make the most of it. Sometimes labeled tomato purée or tomato sauce, passata is traditionally made with late summer, peak-season tomatoes, as a way to preserve them. It's a smooth, strained purée, free of skins and seeds, and typically sold in tall glass bottles. Made from ripe, high-quality tomatoes, it's left unseasoned aside from a touch of salt and, occasionally, a few basil leaves. Its natural sweetness and acidity are already beautifully balanced, so it doesn't need much doctoring. Homemade passata is a wonderful thing if you have time and ripe tomatoes, but with excellent store-bought options available now in the US, it's not essential to start from scratch. Unlike American-style store-bought tomato purées which are cooked until they have a thicker, more concentrated consistency and have a stewed-tomato flavor, passata is brighter, lighter, and far more reminiscent of fresh tomatoes. It also stands apart from jarred sauces. While jarred options often come loaded with garlic, herbs, sugar, and emulsifiers or stabilizers, passata is a blank canvas—ready to soak up whatever flavors you throw at it. But it's also vibrant enough to be prepared simply, with just a few pantry staples. And while I think passata outshines canned sauce in flavor, both are equally convenient for getting dinner on the table quickly. Only one, though, is nonna-approved. Before it became widely available, at Serious Eats, we'd often recommend puréeing canned whole tomatoes for smooth sauces. That still works—but passata skips the blender, the strainer, and most importantly, the cleanup. Passata is my weeknight workhorse. I keep two bottles on hand at all times. On nights when I don't want to think too hard, I heat olive oil with a heaping pile of sliced garlic, pour in the passata, season with chili flakes, and let it simmer just long enough for the flavors to come together—it takes less than 20 minutes. I toss it with whatever pasta I have, finish with a generous dollop of ricotta or a mound of grated Parmesan, drizzle on more olive oil, crack some black pepper over the top, and scatter torn basil if I have it on hand. It's also the base for classics like pasta with spicy 'nduja-tomato sauce and pasta alla zozzona (rigatoni with sausage, guanciale, and egg yolks). Basically, whenever a smooth sauce is desired, passata is a great go-to. As I noted above, passata is far from new—it's a staple in most Italian kitchens. But as it became more accessible in the US, it quickly became one of my indispensable pantry staples. Cento and Mutti are solid, widely available picks, but there are plenty of other great options out there—just check the label to make sure it lists nothing more than tomatoes, salt, and occasionally basil. It's the one tomato product that carries me from winter through spring and early summer, holding me over until August tomatoes finally arrive. So if you see a tall bottle of passata on your next grocery run, grab it. Then grab two more. Read the original article on Serious Eats
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘Dynamic pricing' is coming to top tables, says leading restaurateur
'Dynamic pricing' is coming to British restaurants, Jeremy King has warned. The renowned restaurateur, whose establishments have included Le Caprice and The Wolseley, said he was 'really uncomfortable' with the idea of charging more for a steak on a Saturday than a Monday. However, he did say it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount to stop people ordering the 'absolute minimum' and spending the entire time taking pictures for social media. Dynamic pricing, commonly used for concerts and theatre shows, means the cost of something changes according to demand, with tickets for popular events shooting up the moment as go on sale and the public rushes to buy one. The practice came under fire when it was applied to fans trying to get tickets for the upcoming Oasis reunion. Speaking on the Go To Food podcast, Mr King, 71, said: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media. 'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair. 'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through. 'We've already seen it in the theatre, it widens the rich prosper and the poor are deprived.' Earlier this year, King himself introduced a 25 per cent discount at his two restaurants, Arlington and The Park, for diners eating after 9pm to encourage the public to 're-acquaint' themselves with eating late.
Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
J.M. Smucker plans to remove artificial colors from its jams and other products by the end of 2027
J.M. Smucker Co. plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027. Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker said Thursday it will also remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year. Smucker said the majority of its products – including its Uncrustables sandwiches – are already free of synthetic dyes. But some products still have them, including sugar-free jams and ice cream toppings.
Al Arabiya
9 hours ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
J.M. Smucker plans to remove artificial colors from its jams and other products by the end of 2027
J.M. Smucker Co. plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027. Orrville, Ohio–based Smucker said Thursday it will also remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K–12 schools by the 2026–2027 school year. Smucker said the majority of its products – including its Uncrustables sandwiches – are already free of synthetic dyes. But some products still have them, including sugar-free jams and ice cream toppings. Smucker said some products from Hostess, which it acquired in 2023, also contain artificial colors. Twinkies are made with Red 40 and Yellow 5, for example, while Sno Balls snack cakes are made with Red 40 Lake, a dye combined with aluminum to keep it from dissolving in water. Smucker joins a growing number of big food companies that have announced plans to eliminate artificial dyes. Earlier this week, Nestle and Conagra Brands – the parent company of Duncan Hines – both said they would phase out synthetic dyes. Kraft Heinz and General Mills made similar pledges last week. The federal government has stepped up its scrutiny of artificial colors in recent months. In January, days before President Donald Trump took office, the US regulators banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation's food supply nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk. In April, Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
J.M. Smucker plans to remove artificial colors from its jams and other products by the end of 2027
J.M. Smucker Co. plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027. Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker said Thursday it will also remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year. Smucker said the majority of its products – including its Uncrustables sandwiches – are already free of synthetic dyes. But some products still have them, including sugar-free jams and ice cream toppings. Smucker said some products from Hostess, which it acquired in 2023, also contain artificial colors. Twinkies are made with Red 40 and Yellow 5, for example, while Snoballs snack cakes are made with Red 40 Lake, a dye combined with aluminum to keep it from dissolving in water. Smucker joins a growing number of big food companies that have announced plans to eliminate artificial dyes. Earlier this week, Nestle and Conagra Brands — the parent company of Duncan Hines — both said they would phase out synthetic dyes. Kraft Heinz and General Mills made similar pledges last week. The federal government has stepped up its scrutiny of artificial colors in recent months. In January, days before President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. regulators banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation's food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk. In April, Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry.
