I couldn't find an exact matching label among all the canned tomatoes, so I bought a can of Stewed Mexican recipe tomatoes. Now I'm worried that I should have bought a can of tomatoes with jalapenos. What's the difference between canned tomatoes and canned stewed tomatoes? I'm sure there is one!

Canned STEWED tomatoes have a small amount of green pepper and onions in them and they are cut into wedges. Canned whole tomatoes are just that. Diced tomatoes are cut in dice either full size which is about a half inch, or petite. Diced usually come plain, no salt, chilli ready or Italian style.. (basil mostly)
If you want Mexican flavor add chilli powder, jalepenos, cumin or cillantro. the base is the same, just the spices are different.

Lori - I found this description of Mexican style tomatoes on line:

Diced tomatoes, tomato juice, sugar, salt,
dehydrated onion, dehydrated celery, jalapeño chili peppers, dehydrated sweet bell pepper, spices, citric acid and calcium chloride.

The source is something called Pacific Coast Producers.

You could check these ingredients against those in the can that you bought.

Canned tomatoes aren't cooked, stewed canned tomatoes are. Some manufactures will add seasonings along with the tomatoes when they stew them before canning. Also stewed tomatoes are peeled before cooking whereas diced tomatoes aren't.

Mexican style diced tomatoes could mean just about anything. Real Mexican style tomatoes are fire roasted before canning. Glen Muir manufactures real fire roasted canned tomatoes. Other manufactures skimp and add fire roasted flavoring. Although there are a multitude of manufactures who don't bother fire roasting or adding fire roasted flavoring to Mexican style tomatoes. Also, not all manufactures use vine ripened tomatoes when they can their tomatoes.

What are you making will determine what you should add for seasonings to substitute if you use plain diced tomatoes instead of Mexican style canned tomatoes. There really isn't any standard with regards to so called Mexican style tomatoes. Some manufactures will add bell peppers and onions instead of jalapeno or another mildly hot pepper and label the tomatoes as Mexican style. Some manufactures add lime and cilantro but no peppers to fire roasted tomatoes and label them as Mexican style. If you don't like cumin make sure to read the label because some manufactures add it.

The most common brand of so-called Mexican style tomatoes that I am aware of is Rotel. They're a staple here in Texas, but I know they are sold nationally. They're great. http://www.ro-tel.com/index.js...qkqbMCFU6mPAodX3AAeg

The stewed tomatoes worked out OK in my recipe last night, but next time I plan to use the Ro-Tel brand, which I always have on hand. Thanks for all your comments.