How to reduce the acidity of tomato sauce? It is not baking soda that will solve your problems. Know that there is another that can make your tomato even sweeter.
If you too are looking for a natural solution to permanently remove the acidity from tomato sauce , continue reading this article: it is not baking soda that will save your sauce.
Tomatoes and acidity: how to solve the problem
Certainly, we cannot deny that the tomato is an extraordinary ingredient to use in the kitchen. Versatile, cheap and tasty , it really lends itself to the realization of numerous recipes.
However, there is a small problem that always occurs when we make, for example, sauces or juices: the acidity that sometimes ends up ruining the taste of our dishes. Tomatoes are very acidic fruits that can become even more so, especially if they are cooked poorly or if they are not ripe at the right point . Why can tomatoes acquire this sour taste? We will tell you right away. Belonging to the citrus family , it is in itself a fairly acidic vegetable and the acidity that distinguishes it depends on the high presence of citric acid , which is the same as that found, for example, in grapefruit, orange or lemon . Citric acid is mainly responsible for the sour taste that our tomato sauce can have. If you are wondering how it is possible to eliminate the acidity of tomato sauce, we will tell you right away and we will anticipate it right now: we are not talking about baking soda but about another ingredient that will save your dishes.
The perfect ingredient to eliminate the acidity of tomato sauce
If you’ve made it this far, it’s because you, too, are curious to know what the perfect ingredient is to remove the acidity of tomato sauce. And no, we’ll tell you right away, we’re not talking about baking soda. It’s true that this super versatile ingredient is perfect for sweetening tomatoes as it’s alkaline in nature and has a pH above 7 . In fact, baking soda neutralizes the acidity of tomato sauce as long as only a pinch is used, otherwise, if used in excess, it will end up negatively altering the flavor of the sauce . Simply add the tip of a teaspoon for every 250 ml of tomatoes and let the sauce cook for the required time. However, if you’re looking for an even better ingredient than baking soda to permanently reduce the acidity of tomato sauce without altering its delicious flavor, then you’ll have to use sugar .
Yes, it is precisely this condiment that is perfect for making a tomato sauce with an extraordinary flavour. Sugar acts just like baking soda and therefore neutralises the acidity derived from citric acid , giving a softer and more balanced flavour to the tomato. How much do you need? You will only need to add a teaspoon of sugar for a cup of tomato . Try using this trick and you will see that your dishes will be really tasty: you will be able to forget about the acidic notes of the tomato! The sauce you make will be really delicious.
Other super useful tricks
However, did you know that there are other tricks to reduce the acidity of tomatoes? Perhaps no one has ever told you, but olive oil can also help you in the kitchen. As you well know, oil is a fatty ingredient that, when combined with tomatoes, will sweeten them by reducing the acidic notes of citric acid and therefore, when you taste it, the sauce will have acquired a sweet taste but not too much. If you want to use the olive oil trick, you only need to add two tablespoons for each cup of tomato sauce . Did you know that there are also tomatoes that have less citric acid than others? We are talking about the cherry variety .
The latter are less acidic and have a sweeter and fresher taste . If you make a sauce with this variety, you can, for example, avoid adding sugar or baking soda to neutralize the acidity. Follow other tips to make a delicious tomato sauce. For example, make sure you always buy ripe tomatoes and cook them perfectly because green or raw tomatoes help increase the sour note that makes your sauce sometimes inedible.
