San Marzano Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum 'San Marzano'

vegetable

San Marzano is the classic Italian paste tomato, bearing elongated, thick-walled plum-shaped fruit with few seeds, low moisture, and a sweet, low-acid flavor that cooks down into rich sauce. Prized as the premier canning and sauce tomato, the vigorous vines ripen their meaty fruit in roughly 80 days and yield heavily for putting up.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Basil — Repels thrips and whiteflies
• Borage — Draws pollinators and hornworm-hunting wasps
• French Marigold — Suppresses root-knot nematodes
• Carrots — Shares space without competing

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Blossom-end rot →

  Water deeply and evenly and keep calcium adequate; mulch, as paste types are prone to it

• Tomato hornworm →

  Attract parasitic wasps with dill and borage; handpick at dusk

• Early blight →

  Mulch against soil splash, prune lower leaves, avoid wetting foliage

🌾 Harvest & storage

Pick when the fruit is deep red and firm, twisting it from the vine. Paste tomatoes tend to ripen in concentrated flushes, which is convenient for cooking and canning a batch at once, and the dense, dry flesh holds well for several days after picking.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Tomatoes are low in calories and a good source of vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin A, and paste types are especially rich in lycopene, the red antioxidant the body absorbs best from cooked and concentrated tomato products like sauce and paste.

⚠️ Toxicity & safety

Eat the ripe fruit only. Tomato leaves and stems (and large amounts of very unripe green fruit) contain solanine-type compounds and are not for eating.