Beyond the Kitchen | Hirzel Farms

With over 100 years of practice, Hirzel Canning Company & Farms has focused on sustainable and organic agricultural systems right here in Ohio.

Carl Hirzel began the Hirzel Canning Company in 1923 and it has remained a family business since. Before prohibition, Carl was a brewmaster. He quickly pivoted his business to crop production and Hirzel Canning Company and Farms has operated ever since. The current Director of Operations at Hirzel, Karl Hirzel, is the great-grandson of Carl Hirzel (founder). Four employees are part of the 5th Generation, and Carl and his brother Steve are part of the nine 4th Generation employees. It is safe to say this business runs in the Hirzel Family blood.

Hirzel focuses on crop production, grain facilities, and composting. We are proud to work with them to grow and can the tomatoes we use for our Marinara sauce! There are over 36 million individual plants grown by over 28 family growers, including Hirzel Farms.

This August, our team got to see where the sauce is made – literally! S&L Farms is in the second generation of growing crops for Hirzel Canning Company & Farms and Dei Fratelli. The S&L team took us out to one of their many fields and we got to see firsthand how the tomatoes are harvested and sorted before heading to the production facility.

Harvest season begins mid-July and runs through mid-October, with the first tomato seeds germinating in the greenhouses a few months before being planted in May.

Once the tomatoes are harvested, they head to the facility to get washed, hand sorted, and preserved. This process happens all within a few hours – talk about maximized freshness!

We are proud to source the best products for our delicious Marinara sauce and support generations of farms and families right here in Ohio. Next time you visit Piada, try our classic Marinara pasta!

Click here to learn more about Hirzel Canning Company and Farms.

Click here to learn more about Dei Fratelli products.