Well,
Tonight my girlfriend and tasted Barilla "Tomato and Basil" sauce and
Roa's "Marinara". I did have a favorite which I'll announce toward the
end.

This was a surprising and interesting tasting which was prompted by my
girlfriend's surprise at my sauce making. I always felt it tasted
better and the taste test helped her to confirm that. Still I was so
surprised by the two sauces.

For those that don't know, Rao's (http://www.raos.com/) has an old and
good reputation, as a restaurant and as a maker of boutique sauces.
Barilla of Italy has a very good reputation for jar sauces (produced
in the US at a plant under license with another manufacturer). The
Rao's Marinara sold for $7.99, the Barilla, for $2.99.


Here's my notes:

COLOR & APPEARANCE
Rao's
Decidedly orange. It reminded me of some of those vodka sauces I see
or of a sauce with added cream or ricotta cheese. It was flecked with
small pieces of oregano. There were also some slightly larger pieces
of basil. There is an olive oil halo present which added a tempting
hope of homemade character. There are some seeds visible in this
sauce. From the label, this sauce weighs 113 grams per 1/2 cup.

Barilla
Decidedly red. It had thick and large, prominent pieces of tomato
flesh that just looked great. There is a lot of basil throughout this
sauce, each piece about 2 mm give or take. This would make the hungry
stomach growl. The impact of thickness started the minute it was
poured from the jar; there's a lot of tomato solids in there and they
are big. From the label, this sauce weighs 125 grams per 1/2 cup.


TEXTURE
Rao's
Running the back side of a spoon down the middle of a wide bowl, the
wake of the spoon immediately folded back into the sauce. Dropping a
spoonful of the sauce onto the top of the bowl, it quickly flattenned.
Overall, it was fairly thin. It left we wanting bread for dipping. (I
only had water to cleanse the pallete between tastes.)


Barilla
Running the spoon through the sauce, I can clearly see the bottom of
the bowl left in the wake of the spoon's path and the wake didn't fill
in completely for at least 30 seconds. Dumping a spoonful of sauce on
top created a mound which mostly stayed their.


FLAVOR
Rao's
No red pepper! (In the Barilla either!). The first impressons were
"concentrated", "balanced". It was simple, well made, and enjoyable.
It gave me the impression of a "long simmerred" tomato sauce. I kept
comming back with this same impression of simplicity. As I continued
to taste this sauce I found the "unsubstantial" character had me
comming back for a second spoonful. (Sort of like a wine tasting where
your not supposed to swallow.... But you do when the wine is good.)


Barilla
Before tasting, the sauces impressive appearance of chunky tomato
flesh and basil flecks and thickness left we at first watering (in the
mouth). My first bite confirmed the visual; this sauce is defined by
chunkiness and basil. But it was so strong I wondered if it would
become cloyingly heavy. I tried to taste the sauce apart from its
chunks. Here I was less impressed. The "saucy part" reminded me of an
overly heavy puree. This was confirmed on the label. I like "puree" in
a sauce but adding too much of typical American canned puree can have
that heavy character and it did here. The sauce was also sweet -
pungently so. The label says it has added sugar. I was turned off by
this. The sauce had descent acid to balance the sugar. I just wish it
had less of each. As I continued to taste, its "bigness" did not
subside. It made each mouthful "an event". I thought though that if I
had to eat a lot of this I would feel bloated.


OVERALL
Rao's
Before tasting, the orange color and simple texture created an initial
impression of understatement - "where's the beef". I wasn't overly
impressed but held out that beauty is skin deep. In the end this is
the sauce which got finished first. And when it was gone from the
plate, I opened up the jar just to taste it again, hoping to find some
more useful flavor or impression -either positive or negative. I
couldn't.


Barilla
Toward the end of tasting I was left with a pervasive loud feeling of
sweetness. Excessive. Heavy. Could I eat a lot of this stuff? I don't
think so.


I am very much interested in other's opinions of these sauces.

So long for now!