Monte Bene


				Hand-Selected Tomatoes

The rich and ripened fresh pulp makes for a hearty, full-flavored pasta sauce. Chef Neil goes to the New Jersey farms to select tomatoes for the Monte Bene™ sauce.				Our Chef/Owner, Neil Fusco, makes regular visits to the New Jersey tomato farms to meet with Farmers Joe and Ed, which allows him to hand select the best tomatoes to be used in the Monte Bene™ sauces! "Although this year has been an economically challenging year, my new Monte Bene™ pasta sauce has allowed us to expand our team in the office and out on the field. As well it has played a positive role in working with local farmers, thus helping the overall local economy. Monte Bene™ means "a mountain of good" and our goal is to do good for the Common Good" -Neil Fusco Information about NJ tomatoes and the farms where the Monte Bene™ tomatoes come from: NJ is the birth place of the US tomato industry NJ has historically been known for high quality, superb tasting tomatoes Our NJ farmers monitor seed and variety selection, planting and harvesting schedules to grow the best tomatoes. All tomatoes are USDA inspected. Tomatoes are harvested when they are vine ripe, at the peak of maturity and flavor, and are processed within 12 hours for the freshest flavor. Farmer Joe in Clarksboro, NJ says that the great tasting flavor comes from picking ripe, red tomatoes. His tomatoes are so ripe they look as if they are "painted red". "We do not pick tomatoes that are half green; only those that are ripe on the vine and picked at maturity". Joe has been working with tomatoes on his family's farm since he was a kid and is the third generation of tomato farmers. Farmer Ed in Pilesgrove, NJ has been farming since 1986 and says "there is nothing better than a Jersey tomato!" You can taste the difference in flavor between tomatoes from NJ and tomatoes from other states due to the soil. Ed only picks the tomatoes on his farm when they are ripe. Neil Fusco, chef/owner, says "New Jersey tomatoes are the most flavorful for sauce making in the U.S. due to their low level of acidity. Picking these tomatoes when ripened to maturity allows for a naturally sweetened, well balanced fruit flavor. I chose the New Jersey tomatoes in making Monte Bene™ pasta sauces because the tomatoes are farm fresh picked, processed within 12 hours of harvesting and travel a short distance to where they are jarred. This method makes for a truly homemade flavor pasta sauce."