Best Tasting and BPA Free Canned Tomatoes

Published:  01/06/2018

The quality of canned tomatoes can vary, but if you choose good brands, they should taste wonderful and will be a delicious addition to the foods you select for good health and weight loss.  

The success of a recipe will largely depend on the quality of tomatoes that go in them.

Cook’s Illustrated Magazine is an authority for the best recipes and how-to cooking tips. In addition their editors and staff recommend particularly good products. They conducted a taste test.

One of their winners was Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes.

The Cook’s Illustrated staff recommends these canned tomatoes:

• Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes in thick puree with basil (not the ones in the green can)
• Hunt's organic crushed tomatoes
• Redpack crushed tomatoes in thick puree
• Progresso crushed tomatoes with added puree
• Recommended with reservations:
• Pastene kitchen ready ground peeled tomatoes
• Hunt's crushed tomatoes
• Del Monte organic crushed tomatoes
• Contadina crushed Roma tomatoes
• Muir Glen Organic Crushed Tomatoes with Basil. These are my favorite because they are BPA free and organic!
• Not recommended: Cento All-purpose crushed tomatoes

Of the one's recommended for taste, I agree that the Muir Glen Organic Crushed with Basil are one of the best tasting! I use them because I think the flavor is rich with an ideal balance of acid and sweet without a harsh metallic taste.

I also appreciate that tthe Muir Glen tomatoes are organic. In studies done by the Environmental Working Group, tomatoes were found to contain high levels of toxic organophosphate insecticides.

I also feel better buying canned food that has a BPA-Free lining to limit my family’s exposure. And Muir Glen only uses BPA-free liners. I am concerned about BPA because according to the Environmental Working Group, “BPA is a synthetic estrogen that can disrupt the endocrine system, even in small amounts. It has been linked to a wide variety of ills, including weight gain, infertility, breast and reproductive system cancer, obesity, diabetes, early puberty, behavioral changes in children and resistance to chemotherapy treatments.” (To see if your cans have a BPA –free liner, look for a goldish type liner inside).

Choose canned foods from these food companies that use BPA-free lining:

• Amy’s
• Bionaturae
• Crown Prince Seafood
• Eden Foods (Eden foods still uses BPA in highly acidic foods like canned tomatoes.)
• Farmer’s Market
• Muir Glen
• Westbrae Natural
• Wild Planet Foods
• Kroger found at QFC