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pomodori

i controlli post produzione sui pomodori Ciao
Technical tests of perfection 1024 576 cmdo

Technical tests of perfection

How can be sure we are not disappointing the expectations of our craftsmen regarding the unique goodness of the Vesuvius tomatoes? By way of a series of checks carried out throughout the entire production process and followed by random samplings all year round. Let’s discover together the high quality standards of Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli!

Italian tomato is unique

The Italian tomato and in particular that from Southern Italy is a product unique in the world that must be protected from imitations and Italian sounding practices (foreign products marketed overseas with names very similar to their Italian equivalent specifically chosen to confuse consumers, but not at all Italian).

The uniqueness of South Italy products originates from a scrupulous know-how.

Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli participates actively in the defense of Neapolitan values and culture by continuously checking the quality of its products before, during and even after the production process.
Checks of raw materials, crops, standards of color, shape and compactness of the processed tomatoes: a unique attention that we described  here 

But the checks do not end after the canning of our tomatoes.

In fact, once the production is completed, the end product enters quarantine or is stocked before being sold.
It is at this point that the spotlights are turned on the real “command room” of Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli: the laboratory. It is in the laboratory that we verify all the steps of our work with a spot-check for each single production stage.

Every 45 days, by random samplings throughout the year, the production lots are opened and analyzed to verify the end product’s conformity to CMDO’s quality standards.

We check:
● the PH
● the tomato’s sugar degree,
● the color,
● the presence of skins,
● the density of preserves
● and the presence of mold.

All these checks ensure to our craftsmen the undisputed quality of a market leading product in 91 countries. That’s why ‘Ciao’ is not just a word known everywhere, but a true synonymous with quality in all the world’s languages!

controlli di qualità
How Ciao tomatoes’ quality comes to the table 1024 536 cmdo

How Ciao tomatoes’ quality comes to the table

Preserves of whole tomatoes and tomato juice: those are the only ingredients needed to get the quality of Ciao products, other than a rigorous method to assure that everything is done to perfection. Let’s find out together from where the certainty of bringing the Neapolitan summer to the table comes from!

Carefulness, checks and method – these are the 3 keywords of the production of Ciao.
Our tomatoes arrive in your kitchen whole, perfect, fleshy, shiny and firm, because they are canned just a few hours from the harvest, but also because they are accurately checked throughout the production process.

Let’s see together how much care Ciao takes to keep the promise of always bringing the Neapolitan summer to the table.

The first production chain check is obviously that which takes place in the fields,

through agreements with farming cooperatives and the constant monitoring of crops and quantities planted per hectare. Thanks to precise agreements, vegetables not complying with the standards are rejected.

Then there are factory controls throughout the entire production process.

Checks of the tomato color that has to be perfect, sorting the greener and yellow tomatoes to keep only the red tomatoes.
Checks of the measure, to assure size homogeneity.
Checks of the tomato integrity after peeling them.

The last check before canning is the handmade inspection entrusted to the farm experience of our ladies of Vesuvius,

who with their eyes and hands complete the work of the machines.

This last step shows how for an historic brand like Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli nothing can replace the human skills.

Ciao philosophy is a mix of hands and technology that uses innovation only as a means to make tradition safer.

San Marzano
The particularity of harvesting the San Marzano tomatoes explained by an expert 1024 536 cmdo

The particularity of harvesting the San Marzano tomatoes explained by an expert

Why San Marzano tomatoes are so special and how their harvesting process changes according to their specificities? We have asked this to Tommaso Romano, President of Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano DOP dell’Agro Nocerino Sarnese (the producers association for the San Marzano DOP tomato of the Agro Nocerino Sarnese region).

While it looks like so many vegetables, the San Marzano actually differs a lot from the other tomatoes.  Above all, it comes from a more delicate plant and for this reason it requires more attention, from the field to the table.

«The harvest of San Marzano tomatoes lasts about 50 days (from the beginning of August to the end of September) and the conservation process has to be started within a few hours, to preserve its intense aroma and fresh and sweet taste» – explains Tommaso Romano, president of the Consorzio di Tutela del Pomodoro San Marzano DOP, entrepreneur and passionate about the peculiarities of his land.

«This year the harvesting phase will be slightly shorter compared to the usual, due to the great heat of the 2017 season! – continues Tommaso Romano – It is possible that this time we will not reach the doors of autumn.»

But how does it work this important moment that precedes the factory processing?

In order to understand it, we need to dispel the classic myths of city-made experiences, on terraces and balconies. Tomato plants are not compact bushes, but they develop in height.
Harvesting the San Marzano, therefore, is an articulated process divided into 4 steps.

4 steps, around 10 days each apart, to pick the vegetables from the base of the plants, where the tomato matures first because it is more at contact with the heat of the earth, and then slowly pick the higher fruits.
«Every stage of the San Marzano harvesting is a strictly manual work – concludes Romano – which increases working times compared to other types of tomato, but fully respects the product.» read more

raccolta con civitiello e fortunato
Harvest Diary 2017: A day with Davide Civitiello and Simone Fortunato 845 445 cmdo

Harvest Diary 2017: A day with Davide Civitiello and Simone Fortunato

So much work, but a lot of satisfaction too: Summer is the time of harvest and of continuous quality testing for Ciao. This year, we brought with us an exceptional team of tasters – the World Pizza Champions Simone Fortunato and Davide Civitiello – to see first-hand the quality of our tomorrow tomatoes, starting right from the first step. Here is the story of this special day.

A summer both hot and exceptional for our fields, with record temperatures that forced us to work in shorter times to keep the product intact as freshly picked, but that at the same time that also brought intense colors and flavors to our crops.

We asked to two exceptional testers – Simone Fortunato, three times world champion for the fast pizza category, and Davide Civitiello, champion for the TSG pizza, both winners of the Caputo Trophy – to touch with first-hand the raw materials of our 2017-2018 production.

«Pizza is a dish strictly tied to the ground,” – tells Davide Civitiello – “because deepening your dough technique is not enough to produce excellence, as you have to carefully select raw materials and get to know their ingredients in detail. Pizza is a dish full of history, but also of stories: those of our producers from Campania region!»

For Davide Civitiello and Simone Fortunato a tour among the most lively colors of Campania: the red of our fields of PDO San Marzano tomatoes, but also the bright green of our basil crops that we add leaf after leaf to the peeled tomato cans for the American market.

«I had never seen how the basil grows – says Simone Fortunato of Pizzeria Diaz – Finding out first-hands how the ingredients that I pick each day for my pizzas grow has been stimulating, but also very instructive. For a pizza maker who wants to make a difference, it is very important to carefully select the products of their menu and know how to handle them by mastering all their properties.»

The day has been closed by a tour through the various steps of peeled tomato production, during which our pizza makers have seen how the tomatoes move from the field to the can just in a few hours, so to lose nothing of their fragrance and flavor.

«Walking among the tins that were being filled with peeled tomatoes – concludes Davide Civitiello – has been a bit like going back to my grandmother’s time, when the summer had the scent of the earth and of the boiled tomatoes!»

The memory that Simone Fortunato has taken home is instead that of basil’s aroma, perhaps because it is linked to a great adventure that he is about to begin. On September 22, Sorrento will be the cradle of a new chain of pizzerias: Basilico Italia, who will see him as the pizza maker executive manager, in collaboration with Maurizio Mastellone’s organizational experience.

Sorrento Peninsula will be the first step, but the goal is to bring the excellence of the great products from the Campania region to all of Italy.

What does that have to do with Ciao? We will tell you very soon!

Pizzeria Lucignolo
Ciao and the specialties of Lucignolo at Napoli Pizza Village 2017 845 445 cmdo

Ciao and the specialties of Lucignolo at Napoli Pizza Village 2017

Pino Celio of Pizzeria Lucignolo comes from a family of pizza makers. In Celio’s home, you breathe the scent of fried pizza emerging from hot oil from the time of his grandmother, which herself was a pizza maker for passion, too.
This young artisan has already gone a long way and he can already boast a remarkable award at the Caputo Trophy, having won the first place for the ‘Pizza in Pala’ category during the 2016 edition of the Napoli Pizza Village.
And just like Lucignolo, Pinocchio’s friend who enjoys life in Toyland, Pino Celio summarizes his successes made of tradition and innovation with a motto that says it all: “Amaze, and always amaze”.
After the black pizza that made a splash during the NPV 2015 and the oven-fried pizza with Neapolitan meatballs of the 2016 edition, here is how Lucignolo tells us about his NPV 2017.
– What specialties are you going to show on the Lungomare Caracciolo waterfront?
My red proposal is a pizza marinara with Cetara anchovies and anchovy sauce.
 
– Which tomato you will use for your pizza marinara?
The classic peeled tomato with tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius, as prescribed by the TSG (Traditional Specialty Guaranteed) pizza specifications.

– Why did you choose this pizza to represent you at NPV?
The pizza marinara with Cetara anchovies brings together Naples and the Amalfi Coast, the places I have chosen for my two pizzerias, as I have a second pizzeria in the province of Salerno. Additionally, combining a classic recipe with anchovy sauce is part of the mix of tradition and innovation that has always been my work philosophy.
 
– What do you expect from the Caputo Napoli Pizza Village 2017?
This is the most important pizza festival in the world, and I hope that it will help us to make known the research and the passion behind our work as pizza makers. I hope also to win more awards, as I will compete for the Caputo Trophy.

Pizzeria Porzio
Ciao and the specialties of Pizzeria Porzio at Napoli Pizza Village 2017 845 445 cmdo

Ciao and the specialties of Pizzeria Porzio at Napoli Pizza Village 2017

A family history, that of Pizzeria Porzio of Enrico Porzio: a family soaked of pizza tradition, like that of the Pellone family to which Enrico belongs and from which he has learned the trade, mixing together school and wood oven since childhood.
Then, in 1999, Enrico Porzio opened in Soccavo his first take-away pizzeria, which by 2013 has turned into a 70-seat restaurant, a take-away oven just a few distances away, a branch in Warsaw and the planned expansion in Florence and Milan: all of this under the banner of the pizza of excellence.
With the same enthusiasm with which he opened his pizzeria in via Cornelia dei Gracchi in Naples, Enrico tells us about his Napoli Pizza Village.

– What specialties are you going to show on the Lungomare Caracciolo waterfront?
I will propose my Poker, a pizza with four tones of flavor: a slice of Margherita, one of sausage and rapini, a petal of stuffed pizza and one of fried pizza.
 
– Which tomato you will use for your pizza Poker?
The classic peeled tomato with Mount Vesuvius’ tomatoes.

– Why did you choose a so much varied pizza to represent your pizzeria at NPV?
I chose the four nuances of taste representing the most classic flavors of the Neapolitan pizza art because I like to emphasize the popular tradition of my pizzeria. But above all, Poker is a pizza that surprises for the approach to four pizza cults, joining in this way tradition and innovation, a driving philosophy that has always pushed me to search for selected ingredients.

– What do you expect from the Caputo Napoli Pizza Village 2017?
Not of making a profit from it, this is sure. Indeed, I decided to create within the event my personal “Diversely Pizza Village” and so in the first four days of the NPV I will devolve any earnings to four associations working in sustaining young disabled persons. So I hope that my Poker will sell like bread!

Trofeo Taiwan
Caputo Cup in Taiwan: Ciao – il pomodoro di Napoli alongside the pizza makers in contest 845 445 cmdo

Caputo Cup in Taiwan: Ciao – il pomodoro di Napoli alongside the pizza makers in contest

The Napoli Pizza Village 2017  is getting nearer and nearer and after Korea it will be the turn of Taiwan, on the 17th and 18th of April. Once again Ciao – il pomodoro di Napoli will dress the pizzas of the contestants in race to join the Asian team that will be sent to the Caputo Trophy.

These are the last events which will lead to the formation of the final teams who are going to take part to the Caputo Trophy that will be held from 17th to 25th June on Lungomare Caracciolo in Naples, and that will declare the 16th world pizza champion.

Next trip of Ciao – il pomodoro di Napoli is going to be to Taiwan, where dozens of contenders from the Asian continent will compete to win the approval from the Associazione Napoletana Pizzaiuoli (APN – Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers) in order to be able to join the team that will compete in the 16th edition of the Caputo Trophy.

The most wanted podiums are the one for the TGS (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) – which must strictly observe the parameters laid down by APN, and the one for the classical pizza, a variation on the traditional pizza according to the imagination and gastronomic skills of the pizza maker.

The ingredients which will be used are the real co-stars of the event for both categories.

For that reason, our tomatoes, whose flavor is unmistakably typical of Campania region, will be used on the pizzas in this Taiwanese stop-over also.

Who is to win? You will find it out on our blog and on our Facebook fan page during the most “delicious” days of the year, that are the dates of the Napoli Pizza Village.