Take the Red Gold Challenge!

I only feature brands here that I have personally tried and enjoy cooking with in my kitchen. One of my longest brand partnerships is with Red Gold -- I've been working with them since 2013! When I say they're the only brand of canned tomatoes that I use in my recipes, I truly mean it. I'm very excited to share that I'm a 2016 Red Gold Blog Ambassador! I'll be sharing lots of great information about this family-run company...and lots of tasty recipes too. Last Fall, I visited Red Gold's Indiana headquarters for a few days to see exactly how tomatoes go from the field to the can. It was certainly a fun and interesting trip!

Red Gold's tomatoes are all grown on Midwest family farms. In fact, many of these farms have grown tomatoes for Red Gold for multiple generations! We visited one of these family farms and saw first-hand how the tomatoes are harvested. We even tasted one of these tomatoes right from the vine. Talk about as fresh as it gets! From there, the harvested tomatoes are sent via truck to Red Gold's processing facility. These tomatoes then go through a step-wise process to clean them and turn them into a wide variety of canned tomato products and ketchup. Touring the Red Gold processing facility was interesting and informative -- and it also reinforced exactly why I love to use their tomato products. The Reichart family, owners of Red Gold, are such friendly and warm people. They take a great deal of pride in the products that they produce -- and it shows in the finished product. As part of our visit, we also took part in the Red Gold Challenge. This exercise really highlights exactly why Red Gold Tomatoes are the freshest, best-tasting tomatoes that you can buy. I recently conducted the same Red Gold Challenge comparing Red Gold with a rival canned tomato brand in my home. 

For the challenge, large cans of Red Gold and Hunt's whole tomatoes are opened and poured into large white containers. The visual difference is immediately apparent -- the Red Gold tomatoes are plump and retained their shape. In contrast, the competitor brand tomatoes are mushy and broken.

Then, I used a sharp knife to cut a few tomatoes in each pan in half. Again, it's very easy to see that the Red Gold tomatoes have a lot of structural integrity inside. This allows them to nicely retain their shape. As you can also see, the Hunt's tomatoes were droopy and limp.

The final test was flavor. Again, Red Gold wins hands down! The Hunt's tomatoes had a very mild flavor. They also had an off-putting, slightly metallic aftertaste. However, the Red Gold tomatoes had a fresh, clean tomato flavor. This is because they start with the best tomatoes, and then they produce them with cans that are lined with a non-BPA liner that helps keep the metallic taste out. 

Bottom line: you can feel great about using Red Gold's canned tomatoes in your family's recipes. They taste great, they're 100% natural, and they're also non-GMO verified. I know that if you give Red Gold's tomatoes a try in your recipes, they'll become your go-to tomato too! 

Disclosure: As a Red Gold Blog Ambassador, I receive complimentary tomatoe products and monetary compensation to facilitate coverage. I only work with brands that I personally use in my own kitchen, and all opinions expressed are solely my own.

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