Product Review: Review of Vito Marcello's Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce

(Originally Published at Yahoo.Voices formerly Associated Content~3/12/2012)

ABSTRACT: Review of Vito Marcello's Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce is a delightful all natural blend of chunks of tomatoes in a thick tomato pureé with a hearty burst of basil flavor.

CONTENT: I have to admit I love using tomato-based pasta sauces in many of my cooking endeavors, whether I'm making my Chicken Cacciatore, Chicken Parmesan, giving an additional tomato zest and flavor to my homemade beef stews, to simple pasta dishes. Rather than always sticking to the old tried and true well-known brands of pasta sauces such as Ragu or Prego, I'm always on the look-out to try brands of pasta sauce I'm not too familiar with. Recently I had the opportunity to try a brand of pasta sauce that just happened to be a new featured item of the week that was available in my local Duane Reade store.

I have to confess I never heard of the Vito Marcello brand before, but since I was planning to make my homemade Chicken Parmesan that night, I needed some kind of pasta sauce and decided to take a chance and I bought the 24 ounce jar of the Vito Marcello's Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce at a cost of $4.99. Being an avid reader of labels, I was impressed by the fact that the sauce had no preservatives in it and had all natural ingredients consisting of: blended tomatoes, imported Italian Plum tomatoes, Sweet Onions, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Natural Flavorings, Fresh Roasted Garlic, Salt, Pepper, a blend of Vito Marcello's special House Spices, and of course, the Basil itself.

Once home I began fixing my planned dinner and came the taste test itself. Upon opening the jar, I stirred it up a bit and saw that there were chunks of the plum tomatoes in a thick tomato pureé and I was very aware of seeing the basil itself, and no wonder it's called "basil" marinara sauce, for indeed there was a delightful burst and taste of the basil. One thing I found rather surprising however, was the fact that the sauce didn't have an overwhelming salty taste to it the way other pasta sauces may have. According to the Nutrition Facts on the label, one serving size, which is 1/2 cup has only 170 mg. of sodium, which is way below the usual 300 mgs. or more found in most other pasta sauces and ideal for anyone on a low sodium diet. I'm fortunate that I'm not on any kind of sodium restricted diet, however, I really don't care for overly salty foods myself and never add salt to my own cooking, so this made for an ideal pasta sauce.

Being curious about the Vito Marcello brand in general, I discovered that there is a website that lists other brands of his Pasta Sauces, which includes his Fra Diavolo Sauce, Puttanesca Sauce, Roasted Garlic & Eggplant, Sunday Sauce and Vodka Sauce, as well as his Classic Creamy Italian Dressing. As an added bonus on the website one can watch YouTube videos of Vito Marcello preparing some of his favorite dishes as well as the ability to download some of his recipes in PDF format. For those wanting a little background and history of the Marcello family in general, one can read how they got their start back in 1927 with their Marcello's Family Restaurant in Rhode Island and then later moving in 1988 and began Bellini's Restaurant in Conway, New Hampshire. The information on the website also indicates however, that the Vito Marcello's brand of sauces are unfortunately only available in the northeastern section of the USA, however, one can order directly on-line if one so wishes, and I just might do that, since the one downside is that the Duane Reade store that I bought the jar of pasta sauce only has the one flavor of Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce.

As for my planned dinner that night? Well all I can say is that my Chicken Parmesan which I served it with a side dish of linguine was a hit that night and I couldn't wait to use the sauce for my other recipes calling for tomato pasta sauce. On a scale of one to ten I would rate this sauce a sure winner ten!

The complete Nutrition Facts of Vito Marcello's Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce are as follows: One Serving Size which is 1/2 cup has 90 Calories, 25% Calories from Fat, Total Fat is 3 grams, 0 grams Saturated Fat, 0 grams Trans Fat, 0 Mg Cholesterol, 170 grams of Sodium, 13 grams of Total Carbohydrates which includes 4 grams of Dietary Fiber and 11 grams of Sugar.

Sources:

Life

Vito Marcello's Website:
Vito Marcello

Product Review: Bove's of Vermont Vodka and All Natural Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauces: True Authentically Naturally Made Pasta Sauces

(Originally published at Yahoo.voices formerly Associated Content~2/19/2009)

ABSTRACT: I've had the delight in being introduced to two of the all natural pasta sauces made by the Bove's of Vermont company.

CONTENT: About a month ago, my friend Amy from upstate New York came to visit me, and she wasn't exactly empty handed. She came loaded down with all kinds of goodies that come from the store she works at, the kind of store that sells many specialty food items that are natural and organic. Among the home-styled jams, jellies, pastas, maple syrup, organic rice, you name it, she also gave me two jars of the Bove's of Vermont Natural PastaSauces. One was the All Natural Roasted Garlic Sauce while the other was the All Natural Vodka Sauce.

Now I tend to be skeptical when food items say "all natural" since while yes, they may contain "natural" ingredients, some of those so-called natural ingredients may not be in reality the healthiest for you. For instance, many food products will contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, and many commercially processed pasta sauces do indeed include this. For my mind this added ingredient should be avoided at all cost due to the many health risks involved, from possibly increasing diabetes, raising cholesterol levels, to the formation of kidney stones. Thankfully, the Bove's of Vermont line of pasta sources do not contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, in fact, they don't contain any added type of sugars in any form at all, so are safe for those who may have blood sugar problems, whether high or low. Also, none of the Bove's Pasta Sauces contain any preservatives and are Gluten Free which is also an added benefit who may be allergic to any wheat product.

First let me describe the taste of these two sauces. In a word, fantastic, like none I've ever tasted before. I have to admit, often when I use any kind of pasta sauce for a special meal, I'll add a little red or white wine to it, to give it that extra pizzaz to it, yet never thought of adding something like Vodka as I'm not a fan of strong alcoholic drinks.

The ingredient breakdown of the Bove's of Vermont All Natural Vodka Pasta Sauce is as follows: Tomato puree, diced tomatoes, ultra pasteurized heavy cream, vodka, water, olive oil, fresh onions, fresh hand-peeled garlic, Pecorino Romano cheese made from sheep's milk (rennet, enzymes, salt, aged 6 mos.), salt, spices. While I did mention that there is no added sugars to the Bove's of Vermont Pasta Sauce, there is however, 4 grams of sugar listed on the label per 1/2 cup serving, but this is not added sugar but the natural sugar from the tomatoes themselves. For those of you sodium conscious and are on reduced sodium diets, there's 390 grams of sodium and is 100 calories per serving. Besides never having tasted a pasta sauce with vodka in it, neither have I tasted a pasta sauce with cream in it, save for that of Alfredo Sauce kind, and I think it's the addition of the heavy cream to this sauce that makes it truly unique. When I was able to find the specifics of this sauce on their website Bove's of Vermont and it's description of this particular sauce, I discovered that it was considered a "Outstanding New Best Seller" and that it most certainly is. I was able to make a delicious chicken parmesan dinner and it truly turned an ordinary spaghetti and meatball dinner into something really special.

The other sauce my friend had given me was the All Natural Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce and the ingredient breakdown from the label is as follows: Tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, water, olive oil, fresh onions, fresh hand-peeled garlic, salt, spices. This sauce has 2 grams of sugar and 270 grams of sodium and is only 80 calories for a 1/2 cup serving, is also Gluten free and contains no preservatives. I happen to love the taste of garlic and add it to just about everything I cook not only for the taste but due to the many health benefits of garlic. This sauce is not for the faint of heart...it is pungent and rich with a robust garlic taste, but also fantastic to use for any meal calling for pasta sauce.

Now the difference is clear when one compares the ingredients of a commercially well known brand of pasta sauce, that being Prego, which I happen to have the "Flavored with Meat" type. Their ingredients are as follows: Tomato puree (Water, Tomato Paste) Diced Tomatoes in Tomato Juice, Beef, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Corn and/or Cottonseed and/orCanola), Salt, Spices (Basil, Oregano, Spice) Onion Powder, Dehydrated Garlic, Citric Acid, Dehydrated Parsley, And Flavoring. The amount of sugar listed for a 1/2 cup serving of this sauce is 10 grams and sodium is 580 grams. As you can see there is quite a greater difference in both sugar and sodium levels for this sauce as opposed to the two Bove's of Vermont ones I've mentioned here.

The downside however, is that none of the Bove's of Vermont Pasta Sauces are available in the usual chain store supermarkets, but more aptly to be found in specialty gourmet type stores like the one my friend works in, so in other words hard to find. One can see if this sauce is available in one's area by trying out the store locator feature, unfortunately when I tried to find a store in my area that sells these sauces it came up blank. The good news is however, that one can order directly from the Bove's of Vermont website itself, where one can not only order these two pasta sauces I've mentioned, but all their other pasta sauces, and their homemade meatballs. Besides the All Natural Roasted Garlic and Vodka sauces, one can also order their Marinara, Basil, Sweet Red Pepper, Mushroom and Wine sauces at $4.99 each. There is even a gift package one can order for $34.95 and has one of each of the Marinara, Vodka, Roasted Garlic and Basil. Since I loved the taste of the two sauces my friend gave me so much, you better believe I'm going to order more from their website. I highly recommend going to the Bove's of Vermont website where you can not only order the Pasta Sauces and Homemade Meatballs, but get the full story and history of the Bove Family, their restaurant, several of their recipes for their restaurant are featured as well, and one can even watch a video as their famous Lasagna is prepared which is their top selling item at their restaurant.