The Product Story

When we started our specialty food company, market research showed that families consume at least one jar of tomato-based products every week. So when Allen and Jose from Green Garden Farm volunteered to grow us 30,000 pounds of tomatoes our first year, we were in business!

Neither one of us had much tomato variety experience, so we turned to a pro: Amy Goldman’s book, “The Heirloom Tomato.” Amish Paste, Costoluto Genovese, Hungarian Italian, San Marzano, and Goldman’s Italian American were our first varieties.

Goldman’s Italian American, made our favorite sauce, and since then, we’ve grown it every year on Rabbit Hill. Amy calls this tomato “voluptuous, red-ribbed, and very heavy in the hips- makes sauce as thick and rich as any tomato I’ve ever grown.”

Although we never did see 30,000 pounds of tomatoes that year, we all learned a lot. Classic Marinara made with Green Garden garlic and Goldman’s Italian American tomatoes is still the very best Maine-grown sauce.