1/10/2015 New Jersey Tomatoes Make the Trip From the Vine to the Shelf - NYTimes.com

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In Jars and Cans

The following are among thecompanies making products fromNew Jersey tomatoes:

BERGENFIELD Two Guys FoodGroup: twoguysfoodgroup.com or(201) 9546051.

EDISON Colavita U.S.A.: (732)4048300 or colavita.com.

LEBANON IAM International:iaminternationalinc.com; (908)7139651.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR JerseyNaturals: (609) 6184969 orjerseynaturals.com.

MILFORD Phillips Farms: Onsitemarket at 290 Church Road;phillipsfarms.com.

PARSIPPANY B & G Foods:

NEW JERSEY DINING | TOMATO PRODUCTS

Making the Trip From the Vine to the Shelf

Ben Solomon for The New York Times

RIPE FOR THE PICKING Marc Phillips gathering tomatoes on his farm in Milford, N.J., which go into sauce and otherproducts.

By TAMMY LA GORCEPublished: August 10, 2012

ROCKY HILL, N.J. — First Field ketchup is found at barbecues where“the burgers are Kobe beef,” according to Theresa Viggiano, a founderof the company with her husband, Patrick Leger. When the couplewere testing recipes as the company was getting started in 2008,however, the ketchup was more likely to be in their relatives’refrigerators.

“We’d give it to family members, andthey’d say: ‘That was nice. I used it inmy meatloaf,’ ” said Ms. Viggiano, 36,of Griggstown.

Nowadays, the ketchup, which sellsfor $6.95 to $9 for an eightouncebottle, is in dozens of Whole Foodsand specialty stores.

But one thing has stayed constant since the meatloaf days,and that is First Field’s main ingredient: tomatoesexclusively from New Jersey. First Field is one of a numberof companies that make canned or jarred products usingwhat is arguably the state’s most famous crop. On its label,the words “Jersey Ketchup” appear right below “FirstField.”

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1/10/2015 New Jersey Tomatoes Make the Trip From the Vine to the Shelf - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/nyregion/making-the-trip-from-the-vine-to-the-shelf.html?_r=0 2/3

bgfoods.com.

PRINCETON First Field: firstfield.com.

RelatedSpotlight | Asbury Park:Margaritas, Complete With Salt Air(August 12, 2012)

Times Topic: New Jersey Dining

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Ben Solomon for The New York Times

A jar of First Field Jersey Ketchup.

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Ben Solomon for The New York Times

Patrick Leger and his wife, TheresaViggiano, in their test kitchen in RockyHill, N.J.

“We decided that showcasing New Jersey on the labelbrings an authenticity to it,” Ms. Viggiano said during arecent interview at the company’s small, tidy test kitchen inan office park here. “It’s surprising how many people havethis memory of buying a tomato from a farm stand in NewJersey.”

The ketchup is no longer produced in Rocky Hill becausethe couple cannot make enough of it in their limited space;since late 2010, batches of First Field have been made atthe Rutgers Food Innovation Center in Bridgeton, a largerspace. (The owners declined to say how much theyproduced each year.) But Ms. Viggiano and Mr. Legermaintain the test kitchen to tinker with new recipes.

Scott Stark, cofounder of the company that makes TwoGuys Jersey Tomato Sauce, which is based in Bergenfield,similarly decided to tap into the lore of the New Jerseytomato when he and his partner and college friend, DavidStoff, 33, of Fort Lee, began making their product in 2010.The company estimates it will sell “upwards of 30,000cases” of 12 jars each this year, according to Mr. Stark, in1,000 stores as far south as Virginia. Like First Field, it usescanned New Jersey tomatoes when fresh tomatoes are notin season.

“The tomato is the best thing that could have happened toNew Jersey,” said Mr. Stark, 33, who lives in Manhattan.“People know it and love it.”

First Field and Two Guys are among nine companiesmaking tomato products that are licensed to use the “MadeWith Jersey Fresh” logo on their labels, according to LynneRichmond, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey StateDepartment of Agriculture. Producers of tomato sauceinclude Jersey Naturals of Little Egg Harbor, which makesthe Mia Cucina brand, and IAM International of Lebanon,which makes Ethnic Cottage products.

To qualify for Jersey Fresh labeling, a product must bemade with 100 percent tomatoes from a grower licensed by the department’s Jersey FreshQuality Grading Program, Ms. Richmond said.

Besides those officially designated products, smallerscale makers of New Jersey tomatoproducts abound at local farm stands and farmers’ markets. Among them are Marc andHolly Phillips, coowners of the 200acre Phillips Farms in Milford, who make tomatosauce, ketchup, chili sauce, tomato butter and two varieties of salsa from their tomatoesand sell them at their onsite farm store, as well as at farmers’ markets in New Jersey andManhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. (All are $5.50 a jar.)

Mr. Phillips, 48, grows 100,000 pounds of tomatoes and estimates that he sells 95 percentof them fresh at retail. Still, he said, “there’s a big demand” for the other products.

Two Guys buys all its tomatoes in New Jersey, including from a “lowkey family farm inSwedesboro,” Mr. Stark said, but the fruit eventually ends up at a processing center inFarmingdale, N.Y., on Long Island, where Two Guys’ sauce is produced using a “copacker,” a company that cooks it using Two Guys’ recipe. Its 25ounce jars, which sell for$3.99 to $6.99, can be found in Whole Foods, Fairway, ShopRite and Stop and Shop.

At First Field, Ms. Viggiano and Mr. Leger grow about 10 percent of their own tomatoes ona twoacre farm they tend in Kingston, and they also source from Katona Farms Inc. in

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1/10/2015 New Jersey Tomatoes Make the Trip From the Vine to the Shelf - NYTimes.com

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A version of this article appeared in print on August 12, 2012, on page NJ9 of the New York edition with the headline:Making the Trip From the Vine to the Shelf.

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Chesterfield. They have avoided signing on with a copacker because, Mr. Leger said, “wework with fresh fruit, and that means a lot of variability.”

Both First Field and Two Guys supplement their tomatobuying when necessary, turningto B & G Foods, a company based in Parsippany that packs tomatoes grown in Gloucester,Cumberland and Salem Counties. According to Marvin Schwinder, B & G’s marketingdirector, about a dozen farms account for the tomatoes that land in the company’sWilliamstown packing center each summer. B & G processes 30,000 to 40,000 tons ofNew Jersey tomatoes each year, Mr. Schwinder said.

B & G’s own canned, crushed tomatoes are available in stores under the genericsoundingname Jersey Fresh Crushed Tomatoes. (Outlets include Kings supermarkets; a 28ouncecan costs about $1.99.) The company also packs the canned, crushed tomatoes sold byColavita U.S.A., the company based in Edison and known nationally for its Italian imports,especially extravirgin olive oil.

Colavita added the tomatoes to its product line four years ago, according to its chairmanemeritus and founder, John J. Profaci Sr., 75, of Westfield. They are sold at Kings andShopRite for about $1.99 for a 28ounce can.

“Tomatoes are a natural line extension for us,” he said. “There’s a trinity in our industry:olive oil, pasta and tomatoes.”

Mr. Profaci, who said he had been in the food business for more than half a century,added: “There is no tomato in this country or in Italy that’s as good as the New Jerseytomato. Some of the characteristics might be good, but there’s nothing that can match itoverall.”

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