Rapunzel Products Tomato products and sauces

Tomato sauces from Tuscany

[03/21] The manufactory that produces the Rapunzel tomato sauces with a lot of love and thorough care is a pure family business. There, the tomato sauces are still handcrafted in a traditional way. Today, already the second generation works in the manufactory.

Soon after the untimely death of their father, the three daughters Emiliana, Antonella and Simonetta took over the helm. This was a very courageous step: three young women leading a company - that was still received with a lot of skepticism in Italy early in the 2000s. The three young women knew the company since childhood and showed that they were able to manage the organic company very successfully. Mother Renzia still helps and supports her daughters.

This is where it comes from

100% Italy: the manufactory uses only Italian tomatoes for their delicious sauces.

One can surmise the Mediterranean sea, expansive pine forests spread their typical resinous smell. This is the place where the fruity Rapunzel tomato sauces are made. The manufactory was founded in 1974. Back then, the family started to handcraft their first tomato sauces with traditional recipes.

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Cultivation & harvest

One of the secrets of really tasty sauces are sun-ripened tomatoes that are immediately processed after the harvest. But also the origin of the tomatoes is important.

Simonetta's husband Terenzio and several other farmers grow the tomatoes on their own fields in the neighborhood of the processing plant.

The farmers pay attention to a balanced crop rotation in order to ensure the fertility of their fields. Tomatoes belong to the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. Therefore, they should not be cultivated on the same fields where other plants from the nightshade family (e.g. potatoes) were previously grown.

After the tomatoes were harvested, the tomato plants are worked into the soil as fertilizer. In the following year, leguminous plants are cultivated that are also incorporated into the soil.

Company foundress Renzia on a tomato field

Sun-ripened tomatoes for a delicious Sugo di pomodoro

Leguminous plants are an important source of nitrogen. In organic agriculture, they are therefore often used as intermediate crop. In the next year, the farmers plant cereals on the fields and tomatoes can be grown there once again in the following season.

Directly after the harvest, the tomatoes are processed in the manufactory

Production

The ripe tomatoes are harvested by machine and presorted on the field by harvest hands. Prior to further processing, the tomatoes are thoroughly rinsed.

After a second mechanical sorting, experienced employees take the final decision which tomatoes are used for sauce making.

The sorting is done according to quality: perfect tomatoes are processed into pulp. For that purpose, they are cut into pieces. Not totally perfect tomatoes are pressed for tomato juice. Both, the tomato pulp and the tomato juice are needed for the production of tomato sauce. Tomato skins and tomato pips are sieved out. After the tomato juice was heated for a short time, the basis for the fruity Rapunzel tomato sauces is prepared.

Depending on the kind of tomato sauce, other fresh ingredients are added. The Rapunzel Familia tomato sauce is only refined with a dash of sea salt and some basil. Other tomato sauces such as Tuscany or Traditionale are made with fresh vegetables and other spices. The finished tomato sauces are directly filled into jars. In the end, the jars are gently pasteurized.

At first, the tomatoes are thoroughly rinsed.

…and sorted

A special treat: Simonetta adds a fresh basil leaf into every jar of Tuscany tomato sauce.

Certified quality

Quality controls are performed at different processing steps. Additional analyses assure the quality before the tomato sauce jars are shipped to Rapunzel. The organic product quality is also verified.

To that end, inspectors examine the soil of the fields where the tomatoes are cultivated and the tomato plants. Moreover, they ensure that possible contamination due to wind drift can be excluded. Thus, top-quality ingredients result in top-quality tomato sauce.

100% Italian tomatoes are directly processed after harvest and lovingly manufactured into tomato sauce using traditional recipes.

High quality is guaranteed through the immediate processing of freshly-harvested tomatoes. Not only the intermediate products tomato juice and tomato pulp are immediately produced, but also the different tomato sauce varieties.

The elaborate sorting process ensures that only ripe, red tomatoes are used for sauce-making. That way, the fruity tomato aroma also comes into full effect in the tomato sauce. Many different steps, love and a thorough effort are needed until the delicious Rapunzel tomato sauces can be filled into jars.