Planting starts in late January and continues through the middle of May, with harvesting from early July through mid-October. For about 100 days straight, red, ripe tomatoes flow from the fields to the canners within hours of picking. While there are 200 varieties of processing tomatoes, labels generally don't specify what kind is in the can. The pear or Italian-type tomatoes are often canned because they peel easily in a steam process. The best are processed whole, with the rest diced, crushed, pureed or turned into paste.
Diced tomatoes are relatively new in supermarkets, with consumers showing preference for chunkiness.
You may see a lot of different tomato labels at the supermarket. In addition to the major brands, sometimes a distributor or large grocery chain will contract with a processor for a private label. These labels account for a lot of regional brand names that appear on the shelves. Canned tomatoes can be more nutritious than fresh because they're picked red and ripe and put through high-technology processing that retains all the goodness. And on the dry side The Roma tomato, which is gaining acceptance in its fresh form, is the darling of dried tomatoes.