Thread by @tresterese

Marinara taste testing thread!

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the large selection of pasta sauces at my local grocery store. So I decided to blind taste test 15 different brands of marinara.

Here are some conclusions, ratings, tasting notes, and a little on the how

Conclusions first because this is general stuff that applies even if you don’t care about which particular brands I tested. I definitely learned more from this experience than just which sauces I did and didn’t like, so I wanted to share that here.

BRANDS: I went into this expecting more of the smaller brands to taste better. Small-batch is usually a positive descriptor, right? As well as artisanal, local, etc... but all of my least favorite sauces were smaller brands

One of my favorite sauces was a smaller brand too! But I’d say that in addition to being higher variance, the smaller brands generally scored worse with me. Perhaps that big brand money spent on product testers really does matter.

PRICE: Note that the prices are listed as they appear at my local grocery store, which is on the more expensive side. With that said, there was almost no correlation between price per ounce and my scoring of a sauce. I was very surprised by this!

However this may have been muddled by my trying a lot of small brands, which one might expect to be generally more expensive and have higher variance in quality. I supposed I’d expect there to be more of a correlation when only testing national brands.

TEXTURE: Before this project I didn’t realize how much variance in texture I’d encounter. Some of the sauces were basically just a smooth puree, and some of them were like chunks sitting in juice. And it turned out that texture really mattered for my enjoyment of a sauce.

TEMPERATURE: I already knew that things can taste different at different temperatures, but this was interesting to pay close attention to. I found that at higher temperatures, tomato flavor was pretty robust. Garlic and herb flavors tended to come through more as a sauce cooled.

So, while I usually like to start eating my food when it dips just below the point of causing internal injuries, this made me realize I might do better to wait a while. A lot of complexity comes through at temperatures slightly closer to the dreaded lukewarm.

TASTING: I felt I got better at tasting as I went through this experiment. My notes became more detailed with sauces I tasted later. I wonder if this also had an effect on my overall ratings, but I didn’t go back and retest the sauces I’d tasted earlier, so I can’t say.

And without further ado, here are the sauces, prices, ratings, and tasting notes:

Classico ($0.21/oz) 6/10

This one tasted more like bell peppers than tomatoes. It wasn't bad, but the peppery flavor made this feel like something other than a marinara. Interestingly, there were no bell peppers in the ingredient list, so I'm not sure what was going on there.

Carbone ($0.37/oz) 2/10

I chose to toss this jar after I'd finished the tasting. It smelled and tasted like tinned tomatoes, without much else going on. It was acidic, stringent, and sour. I also had a hard time picking out the flavor of any spices or herbs.

Barilla ($0.20/oz) 7/10

This was a decent sauce. The aroma and flavor were dominated by an herb I guessed was oregano, which was a tad too strong. I could also taste basil and garlic over a mild and slightly sour tomato base. I liked the texture here, which was pulpy and chunky.

Newman's Own ($0.21/oz) 8/10

The flavor here was plain but pleasant. It was very tomatoey, but in a well balanced way with just a little acidity in the aftertaste. I could taste more herby flavors come through as the sauce cooled. The texture was smooth and mostly even.

San Merican ($0.42/oz) 6/10

While I liked the complexity of this one, not all the flavors and smells were pleasant to me. While tasting I described flavors of garlic, tomato, herbs, and a scent of something fishy. The texture was also diverse, with some tomato chunks and skins.

Cucina Antica ($0.33/oz) 3/10

The scent was very fresh and gardeny, but the flavor was thin and acidic. I could taste some garlic, but the herb flavors didn't come through much. The texture was thin, with some chunks. Overall, I didn't like this one much.

Pizza Girl ($0.46/oz) 3/10

The flavor of this one was pretty good (mostly of tomatoes, a little acidic, with some light herbal notes), but I just could not stand the texture. It was both overly watery and overly chunky. Felt a bit like chewing through a can of diced tomatoes.

Michael's of Brooklyn ($0.34/oz) 7/10

I mostly liked this sauce, except for one aspect of it: it was overly sour. Otherwise though, it had a nice complexity to the flavor, and great texture - a pretty thick puree with some small chunks and garlic slices.

Billy's Italian Market ($0.44/oz) 1/10

This sauce smelled a bit like black olive brine. It also tasted like black olive brine. There was also some tomato flavor, but that didn't come through strongly. The texture was overly watery, with a thin liquid surrounding small chunks.

Rao's ($0.46/oz) 10/10

This was the best sauce IMO, so I’m going to ramble about it for a little. It was one of the more difficult sauces to describe, as the flavors were very well blended. It was hard to pick out notes of particular things like garlic and herbs...

... because everything was very well melded. I don’t mean to say that the flavor didn’t have complexity, because it did, but just that I couldn’t easily go, “ah, yes, that’s a bit of garlic flavor there.” So instead while taking notes I resorted to more abstract language.

... "Smell of tomatoes, but with an accent." "Distinguished, sophisticated, vintage." The flavors were interesting but came together smoothly, with well-balanced acidity and a bit of spice. The texture was good, pulpy with some small chunks of tomato.

Mantova ($0.25/oz) 5/10

This one was too garlicky for my liking, as the garlic gave quite a bite on top of an overall slightly astringent flavor. The texture was a fine puree, a bit too smooth IMO, but not watery. I'd call this an okay sauce that could use some improvement.

Victoria ($0.35/oz) 4/10

Here the smell of tinned tomatoes hit me first, along with some black olive brine. The flavor was slightly better, like mellow black olives with some tomato in the finish. A little too sour, but with decent texture - pulpy with chunks.

Di Bari ($0.29/oz) 3/10

I found this one overly sweet. It was also sour, so it very much had a sweet and sour thing going on. I described the flavor as being a bit like Campbell’s tomato soup. Texture wasn't bad - a medium puree with chunks of tomato and onion.

Prego ($0.17/oz) 4/10

I could smell and taste all flavors typical of marinara here, including tomatoes, basil, oregano, and garlic, but they were all a little weak and flat. The texture was too smooth for my liking, despite having some garlic and tomato chunks.

Bove's ($0.29/oz) 5/10

This one had an intense flavor, with herbs almost overwhelming fairly sour tomatoes. The herbs provided a slightly excessive bitter edge. The texture was a fine puree, with slight wateriness and some herb, garlic, and onion chunks.

And that's it for the reviews! Methods section next. I’m a trained scientist, this is important to me to include. But also I get why scientific journals sometimes put this section in smaller print; feel free to skip.

Methods section next. I’m a trained scientist, this is important to me to include. But also I get why scientific journals sometimes put this section in smaller print; feel free to skip.

I only picked sauces labeled as marinara in order to try and compare more similar products. I tried to select a balance of national and local brands since I didn’t get to every single marinara at my grocery store. However I was more likely to never have tried the ones I left out.

I tested the sauces in sets of three, having my husband portion out roughly 1/3 cup of each sauce into glass bowls, labeling them A, B, and C, and microwaving them to heat. I ate the sauces straight with a spoon.

I cleansed my palate in between sauces with bread, milk, and water. I would taste and take notes on A, B, then C, and then again return to A, B, and C for additional reflections and comparisons. This also gave me a chance to taste at cooler temperatures.

After I’d taken notes and drawn my conclusions, my husband would reveal the identity of the three sauces to me. I’d then finish off the remaining sauce over the course of a couple weeks before the next tasting session.

I tried to spread my ratings out over a 1 to 10 scale, so if I had encountered worse sauces, Billy’s Italian Market might have gotten more than a 1 and if I had encountered better sauces, Rao’s might have gotten less than a 10.

And that’s a wrap! I had fun with this project. I am slightly disappointed that despite the overall lack of correlation between price and rating, my favorite sauce was also the most expensive. But at least now I can rest easy knowing I really am getting what I like best.

Probably, that is! There was a small handful of marinaras available that I didn’t get to. But for now I think I’m ready to switch from explore to exploit. Buon appetito!