Comfortable, tasty and tasty, the frozen pizza has become a must in the freezer of Italian companies: between July 2017 and July 2918, in the modern distribution almost 48 million kg were sold for a turnover of nearly 300 million euros (source: IRI). The Italians ne buy more and more and also have a more and more choice wide: whether it is round, in the slice or in the blade; margherita or stuffed, mini or maxi, biological, integral, vegan, gluten-free, now on average in a supermarket if they are around 45 types different. And the prices remain unsurpassed for convenience: according to IRI, they are paid on average 2.30 euros pizza, which fall to 1.72 euros if you take advantage of promotions. But compared to a cost as low as it is quality of these pizzas?

Few ingredients and known
A quality frozen pizza should contain the ingredients of tradition, that is, in order: flour, tomato, mozzarella and olive oil. Better if the tomato is not simple past but also pulp, more valuable. Salt, if any, must be at the bottom of the list
of the ingredients: one warranty of the fact that there is little, since the list is in descending order of weight on the product. sugar in the pizza? It seems strange, yet it can happen find between the ingredients (for example in the form of dextrose) and is added to the mixture to make it more elastic and to promote freezing.

Eye to the pseudo mozzarella
Here is another key ingredient for getting a good pizza. There mozzarella cheese it must be authentic, of quality and present in the right quantity. All aspects that can be to verify checking the list of ingredients. Making a comparison between products different one can discover, for example, that the quantity of mozzarella are very different (ranging from 15 to 28%) or that often is not the only cheese used. Or it is not present, replaced by other cheeses (like theEdam), as happens above all in the pizzas stuffed with salami or tuna.

Oil: often the latita olive
The top is pizza with olive oil and present in just the right amount (just a few grams are not enough). Other acceptable oils include sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, hydrogenated fats or vegetable fats (such as Palm tree) are synonymous with inferior quality.

Additives? No thanks
A good pizza does not need to additives: therefore if the list of ingredients appear flavor enhancers, acidifying, emulsifiers, aromas or colorings (for example added to pummarola) is not a good sign. Much better those in which, for flavor, we only resort to spices and herbs aromatic.

Wood fired: is it better?
The best cooking is the one made up Stone and in a wood oven, which makes the pizza crunchy and golden. But the benefits, for taste and health, disappear if the cooking has been badly conducted and the pizza looks scorched or crusted carbonized.

And the yeast?
Unlike what you think, it is not so much the guy yeast (mother or beer) to make the difference but the duration of the leavened: more takes place slowly, plus the pizza is fragrant, light and digestible. Better to check, therefore, if on the packaging there is the indication "naturally leavened" and if it is indicated the duration leavening (better from 24 hours upwards).

Stuffing yes, but ..
They give that swing to pizza that makes it even tastier and irresistible. Yet the fillings can also be one boomerang: for the line, if they are too abundant, or for the health, if they are made with low quality ingredients and which also serve to overcoat a paste of not excellent quality. First rule for a good purchase: prefer pizza stuffed with raw material choices, from Taggiasca olives to Pachino tomatoes PGI, from the Gorgonzola Dop to the red onion of Tropea Igp. And then check also the weight on ingredients, because it can happen that some ingredients particularly fine they are present in negligible quantities. If it is written on the package "Hand-stuffed" it's a good thing: in fact, the most delicate and precious ingredients (from artichokes cooked ham) need special care when they are added to the pizza.

Optional but welcome
On the label of frozen pizza, in addition to directions compulsory, others can be compared decided by the producer and which are an indication of transparency and attention to the service. The first is the production plant (soon obligatory), which allows you to know where it was made. And in this sense, by skill and tradition, Italy is one warranty. Another useful indication is that which provides advice on how to cook pizza to taste it best.

Let's talk about prices
It is not so immediate to understand how much it costs really a frozen pizza. It is true, in fact, that the price of each package is highlighted on the shelf but it is equally true that there is such a variety of formats (and therefore of weight) that does not help to understand how much the various products. Suffice it to say that in the cartoons of the brands most sold ranges from pizzas weighing 300 grams to those that do weigh 380 grams up to 425 grams. Solution: do not stop for the price of one package but look for the price per kg on the shelf (mandatory). It turns out so, that the price range is very wide: from less than 3 euros to over 11 euros per kg for one Daisy.

Manuela Soressi
February 2019

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