I love to make homemade pasta sauce, and my family loves to eat it.

Although I stray from the strict interpretation of marinara, I do pride myself in using quality ingredients, including extra virgin olive oil, truckloads of fresh garlic, and San Marzano tomatoes from Italy.

But are my tomatoes the real deal?  Read this excerpt from, Marinara Worth Mastering, in the New York Times:

Some canned tomatoes from the area around Naples, characterized by volcanic soil, plentiful sunshine and salty breezes, are certified by the European Union as “San Marzano” tomatoes. San Marzano is a Denominazione d’Origine Protetta, meaning that the tomatoes are grown, processed and packed there.

But because the entire area of the D.O.P. is about 16,000 hectares, or 60 square miles, it cannot possibly produce the millions of cans that now bear the name San Marzano. These may be tomatoes of the San Marzano strain, but grown in New Jersey or Chile or Tunisia. This is true even if they are labeled “product of Italy,” which assures only that they were canned in Italy. (Unless it doesn’t.) As with extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other prestige ingredients, both fraud and confusion are now rampant in the business of selling San Marzano tomatoes. European Union certified tomatoes can be identified by the red-and-yellow sunburst on the label, but according to Mr. Prisinzano, even that doesn’t assure the best flavor.

“This is Italy we’re talking about,” he said. “They love tomatoes more than anything. Do you really think they’re going to take the best ones, put them in a can and send them over here for us to eat? No way.”

Is this much to do about nothing? Should I be investigating  the provenance of my tomatoes are closely? The sauce tasted terrific, and that’s what counts, right?