These beauties are best for sauces and sun-drying
Our Favorite Paste Tomatoes
Kimberley Burch
'San Marzano' tomato

Good paste tomatoes are seedless (or nearly so), meaty, and on the dry side―qualities that also tailor them perfectly to sauces and sun-drying. Some have good enough flavor to be used (and sold in supermarkets) as slicers.

‘Roma’ is the classic paste tomato, but in the tastings we attended, full-flavored ‘San Marzano’ and sweet ‘Viva Italia’ came out ahead. At 3½ inches long, ‘San Marzano’ is bigger than ‘Roma’ and has some resistance to late blight. ‘Viva Italia’ is a determinate type (it grows to a certain height, then stops), so all the fruit comes to harvest at about the same time. (That’s a clear advantage for anyone who wants to do all their harvesting and canning on the same weekend.) And it’s very sweet and disease-resistant. ‘Principe Borghese’ is particularly favored as a drying tomato.