There are many ways of buying local.  Fruits and vegetables from the Saturday street farm market is one way.  Buying products made at local companies is another.  When Dei Fratelli Pasta Sauce and Salsas were offered up for review, I was thrilled to find out that they were a local company.  Well, semi local, it’s in Ohio. Hirzel Canning grows its own tomatoes in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.  Also they supply the 30 family run farms that they’ve  contracted to grow tomatoes for them with seedlings, and are certified GMO free. 

Dei Fratelli pasta sauces were delicious. We eat pasta sauces and salsas all year long, some I make, some I buy.  It’s nice to know this sauce isn’t flying in from another continent when the main ingredients can be easily grown in the area.  It’s the tree hugger in me that is concerned with those things.  The only issue is that distribution currently is limited to primarily the Midwest, Central and Southeastern states.

We used the sauce with our spaghetti and sausage for a quick dinner, and I also used it to make penne pasta with ground beef.  The sauces were delicious and had a great tomato flavor, with just enough seasoning.  We loved the sauce.  The Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce was delicious while the Arrabbiata Pasta Sauce has a spicy zing.

My husband thought the salsa - Casera Salsa Mild tasted almost like my own.  He loved it.       I made 36 pints of salsa last summer and it didn’t make it through the whole winter. We supplement our salsa with store brands and this one is definitely on the list. The Black Bean and Corn Salsa is a medium heat salsa, but not too hot, with kernals of corn and beans.  This is really a nice tasting salsa too. 

Dei Fratelli says their tomato sauces and salsas are naturally gluten free - except for the tomato soup.  Their tomato soup contains wheat flour. 

Consider using the Dei Fratelli in your meals or snacks, it’s delicious and may be semi local for some of you also.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Gluten Free, Sauces. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.