Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:33 PM
How do I cut the acidity in tomato sauce?
There are a handful of tips circulating about how to reduce the acidity of a basic tomato sauce—things like adding sugar to the sauce, cooking the sauce for a loooong time or straining out the seeds. In fact, none of these tricks really work to cut acidity after the sauce is made, and in some cases, it might actually increase the acidity.
Straining seeds and removing the skin of the tomatoes does help the cause on the front-end of cooking. But adding sugar only masks the acidity with sweetness. And, the longer you cook tomato sauce, the more concentrated the flavor (and acidity).
So far, only one trick has worked in a homemade sauce: add baking soda.
Chemistry isn’t a strong point, but I know it has to do with the alkalinity of baking soda counteracting the acidity in cooked tomatoes.
How much baking soda does it take? It depends on a few factors, including the type of tomato, whether it’s canned or fresh, if the sauce has already cooked for a few hours and more. Using too much baking soda will make the sauce taste soapy, so, really, it’s about adding a smidge and tasting as you go.
For a small, 2-cup batch of fresh sauce, start with 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. In a big batch of 5 cups or more, use 1/4 teaspoon. Be sure to cut out the salt in the recipe if you add baking soda because it contains a fair amount of sodium. You can always add salt at the end of cooking if it needs seasoning.
Tomato Sauce Recipes from WC Blogroll
PoliticsChick's Fresh Tomato Sauce