Sacramento Tomatoes: Why the City Is Called the Big Tomato

Sacramento tomatoes helped make the city a canning capital, which is how it earned the nickname the Big Tomato. Fertile fields, rail and river routes and a century of canneries shaped what the region eats. Here is the history, how it connects to your plate today and how to judge a good tomato when you taste one.

Here is the canning story, the way tomatoes fit into the region's farm identity and a method for tasting them.

Why are Sacramento tomatoes called the Big Tomato?

According to Wikipedia's history of the Sacramento cannery industry, the city is best known for canned tomatoes and earned the nickname the Big Tomato, though it canned many other products too. The same article says the region's position at a crossroads of major transportation routes, close to fertile growing land, with a good water supply and climate, made it a strong site for canning. The Sacramento History Museum's exhibit calls the city the tomato soup capital of the world.

The nickname is a good example of how a food shapes a place's identity. A city does not usually earn a name like that from a restaurant; it earns it from decades of work in fields and factories.

How did canning history shape the city?

Wikipedia traces the story back to the 1860s, when salmon was canned on a barge in the Sacramento River, and notes that the first successful fruit and vegetable cannery opened in 1882. Railroad access in 1869 created a national market, and the Panama Canal in 1914 increased demand for California canned goods. By the early twentieth century some of the nation's largest canneries stood in the region, and their goods were shipped worldwide.

The museum describes the work: plants employed thousands of people, mostly women of color, along with women and children from immigrant, Indigenous and working-class communities, and work peaked at harvest, when crews rushed to process the region's produce. The museum adds that parts of the city reportedly smelled like tomato soup. Wikipedia records that after World War II canneries became more automated, and most of the large plants later closed.

What happened to the canneries?

Most canneries are gone or have been converted to other uses, according to the museum, and Wikipedia lists closures from the 1980s through 2013. That history is not a footnote. Today's farm-to-fork identity, which Visit Sacramento describes with the line that the city is surrounded by 1.5 million acres of farms and ranches producing more than 160 crops, grew from the same soil. The fields are still here; the cans have mostly been replaced by farmers markets and chefs who buy from the farmers directly.

How do you taste a good tomato?

Judge by the senses. Look for a deep, even color for the variety, and a firm skin that gives slightly when pressed. Smell the stem end, which should smell green and sweet. Slice it and look for juice, not mush. Taste it plain, with a little salt, before you add oil or herbs. A good tomato is sweet and acidic at once, and the balance matters more than the size.

Taste two varieties side by side. Heirlooms differ from slicing tomatoes in sweetness, acidity and texture, and you will learn quickly what you prefer. Cooking changes things: a tomato that is dull raw may be excellent roasted, and a great raw one can be wasted in a sauce. Visit Sacramento says markets sell fresh produce, local honey and artisanal breads, so a market is a good place to taste and ask.

Where do farmers markets fit in today?

Visit Sacramento says markets are where shoppers find fresh produce, local honey and artisanal breads, and where they can meet the farmers and makers. A Midtown market was ranked first in California and third in the nation by the American Farmland Trust, the site says. For a diner curious about tomatoes, a market is the place to compare varieties by eye and ask the grower which one to eat raw and which to cook. Go early in the season for the first ripe fruit and later for the sweetest, and take a notebook or your phone for a quick note.

What should you ask about ingredients?

A tomato dish is rarely only a tomato. Soups often contain cream or butter, sauces can contain meat stock, and bread or pasta carries wheat. Fresh tomatoes are generally an easy ingredient, but ask the kitchen about anything else on the plate. Say the need first, ask how the dish is made and treat the answer as information from that day.

How can Mosey help you remember a taste?

Open the Mosey app after a meal built around tomatoes and rate the dish. Add a few words on the sweetness, the acidity and the texture, plus a tag and a photo. Only the place and the stars are needed. Tag the friend at your table and each of you can rate the same plate.

Make a list called Tomato notes and send an invite link to a friend, who can add to it even before joining. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved. The ratings page explains rating by the dish and the lists page explains shared lists.

Mosey is a food app for rating dishes, keeping lists and sharing them with friends. For small places the terms are plain: it is free to list, the tools are affordable and there are no hidden fees.

Where else can you read about Sacramento?

For more of the region's story, see the farm-to-fork guide and the classic restaurants guide. To plan a visit, read how to find good food in Sacramento. See also the Sacramento page, the California page and the US food guides.

At your next Sacramento table, get the Mosey app, rate the tomato dish by name and save it to a list.