After reading The Splendid Table's How to eat Supper, I decided to not take anyone's word for it, but to do a trial of pasta on my own. The Splendid Table specifically listed De Boles noodles and Muir Glen tomatoes as top organic pasta recommendations. I was skeptical. I had hear of Muir Glen on a website called MoneySavingMom.com which often has great ideas for buying items amazingly cheap, as well as from a few other sources, but had never heard of De Boles Pasta. Ironically, though, Paul drug me to the "expensive" aisle in our local Publix one day and those two products popped out quickly among the crowded shelves of organic food. I decided to do as true of a comparison as possible with the items and make a decision based on my own experience.

Foods Tested

• Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes (no salt added, but not sodium free)
• Hunt's Diced Tomatoes (with salt)
• De Boles Spaghetti Style Pasta (Made with Jerusalem Artichoke Flour)
• Barilla (not Plus) Spaghetti

Boundaries of the Taste Test

• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt added to each pot of boiling water for the pasta (did not want too much salt to focus on true flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt to each pot of tomatoes
• Only heat tomatoes equally on medium heat with as little altering (i.e. blending) as possible.
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper to each pot of cooking tomatoes
• Use the same type of pot for both tomatoes
• 3 teaspoons home-dried basil added to each pot of tomatoes
• Opportunity to taste each noodle and each tomato by themselves as well as both tomato types with both noodle types.

Notable Thoughts (in no particular order)

• Hunt's has an "easy open" pop-top can.
• The Muir Glen tomatoes are much juicier.
• Although the boxes are the same size, the De Boles pasta has half the amount of pasta in it (2 ounces).
• Both pastas have equal nutritional value except Barilla has less sugars (1g compared to 2g), more fiber (2g compared to 1g), more iron (10% compared to 4%), and has added Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin and Folate.
• The De Boles cooks faster than the 8 minutes recommended as a minimum on the box.
• De Boles is lighter in color and is slightly smaller in size.
• The Barilla has a better texture, but the De Boles has a lighter flavor.
• The Hunt's tomatoes have too much added salt at 380 mg versus the natural 15 mg sodium that comes in a can of Muir Glen tomatoes.
• The Muir Glen tomatoes straight out of the can are much juicier than Hunt's tomatoes.
• Nutritional information is equal for the two cans of tomatoes except: Hunt's 25 calories/Muir Glen 30 calories, Hunt's 3 g sugars/Muir Glen 4 g sugars, Hunt's 4% calcium/Muir Glen 2% calcium, Hunt's 6% Vitamin A/Muir Glen 15% Vitamin A, Hunt's 30% Vitamin C/Muir Glen 35% Vitamin C

Price Considerations

All purchases for comparison came from Publix.

• $1.69 Muir Glen Tomatoes
• $0.70 Hunt's Tomatoes (buy one at $1.39, get one free)
• $2.79 De Boles Spaghetti Style Pasta (remember, it takes two boxes to equal one box of Barilla)
• $0.62 Barilla Spaghetti (buy one at $1.23, get one free)

So, after discussion and tasting, we have come to the agreement that the Barilla is likely the better pasta as it has the addition of fiber, which is so important in fighting cancers and in controlling cholesterol levels. Not to mention, the price difference was unbelievable. We will continue purchasing this pasta unless we learn something very different. The Muir Glen tomatoes are by far tastier and, as I said, better for a sauce because of their natural juices. We will learn the best locations for purchasing them at the cheapest price.