In Calabria summer was measured in bottles. How many you'd filled, how many you'd put in the cellar, how many you'd open over the winter. The pumata (the summer tomato-preserving day) was August's ritual: tomatoes picked, the fire lit, jars lined up on the table, hands red from work and sun. It was how the season was kept for the cold months.
 
 
 
'U Sucu (Calabrian for “the sauce”) brings together four Calabrian tomato preserves, all different, all made with tomatoes from Calabria. It isn't a random selection: it's a larder shelf in a box.
 
 
 
Tomato passata, 720ml
 
The classic passata that goes with everything. Made with Calabrian tomatoes, thick, with a scent that recalls a home kitchen when something is simmering slowly on the hob. Use it as a base for ragù, pizza, or the tomato pasta that always seems too simple but never is when the tomato is right.
 
 
 
Tomato passata, 660ml
 
Same tomato, different size. For those who use it in smaller amounts or want to open one for a single meal without leftovers. Same quality, same origin, same care.
 
 
 
Calabrian cherry tomato sauce
 
Cherry tomatoes have an acidity and sweetness classic passata lacks. It's livelier and more immediate, ideal for dressing without long cooking. Use it on bread, on bruschetta, as a quick pasta sauce. The sauce for those who want the taste of fresh tomato even in winter.
 
 
 
Yellow tomato sauce
 
Calabrian yellow tomato always surprises. It has a different, softer sweetness, without the acidity of red. People who don't know it taste it with curiosity; people who do look forward to it. It goes well with mozzarella, cheese and fish – but even on its own on bread it's worth the journey.
 
 
 
How to use it
 
Open them, taste them, compare them. There's no order. Just bread, the wish to understand the difference between one and another, and the time to do it. This box is made for people who cook and want real ingredients to use during the week, not something to put in a drawer.
 
 
 
Who it's for
 
For those who love cooking with preserves made the old way. For anyone looking for Calabrian tomatoes they can't find at the supermarket. For those who want to give something useful and authentic that goes into the kitchen and stays there. For anyone who grew up with the smell of the summer pumata and wants to find it again at any time of year.
 
 
 
'U Sucu comes from Altomonte, in the province of Cosenza. Every product comes from producers Braalla knows personally, chosen among those who still work the old way: with seasonal tomatoes, taking the time needed, with no shortcuts.