Tinned Tomatoes.

I live in italy, and only use fresh if i'm sure of the source, and if it's full summer and the good stuff is ripe. No point using lousy fresh tomatoes, grown in hothouses, or shipped long distances so picked really green. Then the canned ones are much better because they come from the sunny volcanic areas near naples, and are picked at the right point of ripeness and processed on the spot. My favorite brand here is valfrutta. But i'm sure there are plenty of good ones, and no doubt much better ones. These are the best in my local supermarket. If your sauce is cooking a long time, then might as well use canned or bottled anyway, since the main drawback is that they;ve been cooked. Some sauces are really great becase the tomatoes are almost raw, just barely tossed in a hot pan with oil or butter, and these of course are summer sauces, made with good fresh tomatoes.

Tomatoes, canned and otherwise

Except during tomato season, we used canned tomatoes exclusively in sauces. Though the first factor is the quality of the tomato that goes into the package, a secondary factor can be the package itself. There are a few products out there packed in aseptic cartons, which should be capable of priducing a product with more minimal processing and less of the "tinned" flavor that tomatoes can pick up from the can (though some people like the "tinned" flavor).

Del Monte also makes a premium-priced jarred product in their "Garden Select" line that they also say has been minimumally processed. Though we've bought some, I have yet to do a side-by-side comparison.

Don't bother to pay extra to get minimumally-processed tomato puree or sauce, however. It's already been subject to enough cooking for the packaging to not make much of a difference.

Canned tomatoes are inexpensive enough for you to do your own taste test with the products available locally. You can do two-by-two tests (open two different brands, compare, pick your favorite, then use them in your recipe; mext time repeat, but compare your favorite from round one with another brand, etc.). Also compare the number of under ripe tomatoes or pieces in the can. We've dumped several brands from our shopping list for a consistently larger number of underipe chunks.

Finally, think twice before you use some of the canned tomatoes flavored with extras (onion, mushrooms, Italian spices, etc.). Some, but not all, contain added sugar, which you may or may not want in your recipe.

I use fresh tomatoes mostly in the summer when they're in my garden.

For sauces, I primarily use canned.

I have used the jarred Del Monte tomatoes, and I think those are good too. I generally use them as more of a substitute for fresh chopped tomatoes in the winter because they're not mushy and/or crushed like canned tomatoes.