What is a Roma tomato?
The Roma tomato, also called the Italian plum, has an elongated oval, egg or pear shape and comes in red or yellow varieties. Smaller Romas may be called “baby Romas.” The Roma is a disease-resistant tomato that makes it widely available and popular with home gardeners. At Cookhink, we lump Roma tomatoes in with all “plum tomatoes.” (Find some recipes here.) With few seeds and firm, dense, meaty flesh, Romas have less water content and more pulp than other varieties. This means they break down nicely into tomato sauce and are good candidates for canning, sun- or oven-drying and making tomato paste. Sliced Roma tomato rounds work well as a pizza topping, because they hold their shape and their minimal seeds won’t make the pie soggy.
