Are fresh tomatoes in short supply at your local supermarket? Or maybe higher prices have put them outside your budget.
Wild weather in Queensland's growing regions and a tomato virus in South Australia and Victoria has impacted the availability of fresh tomatoes.
If you're thinking about substituting with tinned tomatoes, here's what three culinary experts advise.
Choosing tinned tomatoes
Andreas Papadakis says he has not had a fresh tomato at home for months. Price aside, he says "it's not really the season" in Australia.
Mr Papadakis is the executive chef at a range of restaurants in Naarm/Melbourne, including Italian restaurants Tip00 and Figlia, and he says tinned tomatoes are a great substitute.
"I would just suggest 100 per cent of the time you need to get whole peeled tomatoes."
He recommends avoiding diced or crushed options and anything with herbs — like oregano and basil — already added.
Mr Papadakis finds whole tinned tomatoes to be less acidic. He says some poor-quality tinned tomatoes are so acidic they "will ruin" whatever dish you use them in.
The chef and owner of Indian restaurant Enter Via Laundry in Naarm/Melbourne, Helly Raichura also looks for whole tinned tomatoes.
"I think they will always come out a bit sweeter and juicier as compared to the ones that are already chopped. They tend to be too acidic for my liking."
Jessica Nguyen is a cook and content creator also based in Naarm/Melbourne, who chooses tinned tomatoes with the highest percentage of tomato.
She says there's a bit of a misconception that the contents of all tinned tomatoes are the same, but "generally the best quality ones are around 99 per cent tomato and only one per cent salt".
These higher-quality options are better tasting and more expensive, she says.
Beyond that, Ms Nguyen says it "depends on the recipe and the application".
Australian versus imported
Ms Raichura says Italian tomatoes are usually sweeter than their Australian peers, but some of the local products offer great value.
"When you're feeding a family of four I think you have to be practical, and the nutrition value also stays quite similar [between options]."
Beyond choosing whole peeled tomatoes, Mr Papadakis says it comes down to personal preferences and taste.
He recommends doing what he does with new suppliers, tasting the product. "Blend the tin of tomato and then just take a spoon and you taste it."
Mr Papadakis says the costs won't always reflect the flavour and aroma of the tomatoes beneath the label.
San Marzano — a variety of plum tomatoes grown in the San Marzano region in Italy — are the "pinnacle".
They're characterised by "thicker skin, thicker flesh, making [them] less watery", but they're also expensive and can cost as much as $6 a tin, he says.
Depending on how you're using them, Mr Papadakis says there are alternatives that are pretty good and much cheaper.
Substitution tips
Mr Papadakis says a tinned tomato is dense compared to a fresh tomato.
If he were substituting canned tomatoes for fresh tomatoes in a recipe, he would reduce the amount by 25 per cent, "because otherwise you're going get a really dense sauce". He says to add stock or water to compensate.
Ms Raichura says when you're cooking with tinned as opposed to fresh tomatoes, the acidity can differ. To counter this, she says you can dilute the acidity of tinned tomatoes with yoghurt or water — depending on the dish — and adding a bit of sugar.
Another way to reduce the acidity is to decant your tinned tomatoes into a separate container the night before cooking, she says. Add a little salt and water and leave them in the fridge to mellow out.
However, "If they're already too sweet" she recommends adding a bit of verjuice to "make it nice and bright".
Either way you're bringing the tinned tomatoes closer to their best natural flavour, she says.
How to use tinned tomatoes
Ms Nguyen says tinned tomatoes, passata and tomato paste lend themselves to the stews, braises and slow cooked meals she turns to during winter.
"If you're doing things like slow cooked meals where the tomato is cooking for hours, sometimes [the difference between varieties is] quite negligible because that flavour builds up over time."
While simple summer recipes that call for fresh tomatoes have only the quality of the produce to rely on, she says.
Mr Papadakis uses San Marzano tomatoes on pizza bases but says a less rich tomato will likely work equally well in recipes with a longer cook time.
Ms Raichura says she uses tinned tomatoes in Indian curries and turns to passata for pasta sauces.
"It's definitely not going to be exactly like the fresh stuff, but for the sauces and cooking it down I think tinned tomatoes or passata work quite well."
