There are two ways to make pizza sauce. The first is the fresh-pack method, by which the pizza sauce is made with fresh tomatoes when they’re harvested during the tomato season. The other is the re-manufactured method, by which water is added to tomato paste or concentrate after the season has ended.

Freshly packed sauces typically are made within 6 hours of harvest. The sauce is heated to 175°-190° F just once before being packed. Since the tomatoes are so fresh and are only cooked once before packing, they retain their fresh tomato flavor.

Re-manufactured sauces, on the other hand, are made with processed tomato paste. They are then re-heated and diluted with water to create a sauce. Since re-manufactured sauce is cooked twice and made with processed tomato paste, its flavor is not as fresh as a freshly packed sauce.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to tell the difference when you are looking at a can of tomato sauce. Simply look at the ingredients list. If water is listed as one of the ingredients, it is likely a re-manufactured sauce.

Pastorelli’s line of foodservice tomato sauces are all made with freshly-packed, vine-ripened California tomatoes. Our tomatoes are packed within 6 hours of being plucked off the vine. You’re not going to find a fresher tasting shelf stable pizza sauce!