How Do YOU Reduce The Acidity In A Tomato Sauce?

[sydfan]

I've heard about people adding sugar and grape jelly. How do you reduce the acidity?

 

[AllenOK]

A little bit of white wine does wonders.

 

[Robo410]

wine (dry white or red) fresh basil and ground fennel (both are sweet herbs) carrot (a sweet vegetable) caramelized onion (sweet) etc. I really prefer not to use sugar in my sauce. meat will also reduce acidity (pork or chicken more than beef) especially if it is browned on the bone and then cooking in the sauce.

 

[Andy M.]

I saute onion and carrots for sweetness and add tomato paste as well. Different brands of canned tomato also have different levels of acidity.

 

[amber]

I add about 1 teaspoon of sugar to my sauce to cut the acidity, but wine works well too. I've never heard of adding grape jelly to tomatoe sauce.

 

[Dina]

Some light corn syrup does wonders for my sauce. I add one to two tablespoons for every cup of sauce, depending on your liking. I finally got my sauce to taste better than Prego.

 

[pdswife]

" just a teaspoon of sugar helps the acid go down"

 

[Chopstix]

A bit of heavy cream should temper the acidity...

 

[Haggis]

Without adding any other ingredients a simple way to reduce the level of acidity in a tomato sauce is to leave the tomatoes whole (this is mainly in relation to using tinned whole tomatoes) while you cook them long and slow (which makes the best, most richly flavoured tomato sauces anyhow) then break them up towards the end.

 

[RDG]

" just a teaspoon of sugar helps the acid go down"

Correct. Confirmed.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I have seen grape jelly mentioned a couple of times - but only in connection with someone looking for a "substitute" for wine.

IF the sauce is going to simmer for 30-minutes to several hours and does not contain milk or cream to finish it - I balance the acidity with onion, carrot and celery in about a 6:2:1 ratio - basically 1/3 the amount of carrot as onion, and the celery is 1/4 - 1/2 the amount of carrot - but that ratio isn't set in stone. The onion gets diced - the carrot and celery go for a spin in the food processor until fine minced (by hand I grate them and then chop fine with a knife).

If I am using meat in my sauce - the meat gets browned and removed. If not, hot pan and Extra Virgin Olive oil is added - toss in the onions with a sprinkle of salt for 2-3 minutes, then add the carrots and celery. When they are nicely tender but not browned - in goes the minced garlic for a couple of minutes ... then some tomato paste - for 2-3 more minutes ... then dry red wine - first addition of herbs - when it comes to a boil then in goes the tomatoes, etc. ....

Depending on how acidic the tomatoes are - some dark brown sugar - somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/4 - 1-1/2 US teaspoons per quart of sauce. When we had this discussion before someone suggested brown sugar and I thought she was nuts .... and then I broke out Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking and got to looking at the flavor components of tomatoes and brown sugar ... many of them were the same! So, I tried it - and it works great.

 

[thumpershere2]

Usually add celery, onions, sweet bell pepper. If need be I add a tsp of brown sugar.

 

[Claire]

I'm with Andy -- a few spoonfulls of tomato paste will add the sugar lots of folk have recommended, thicken the sauce, and not make the sauce sugary sweet, just tomato-y sweet. I'm one of those "never the same twice" cooks, but this is always a good hint for tomato sauces (be it Italian for pasta or chili) if the tomatoes are too acidic or you've messed up and overpoured the wine. I also like to use "tomatoes in tomato puree" rather than just canned tomatoes. I had a bumper crop of tomatoes last summer, though, and a little tomato paste goes a long way. When you only need a spoon or two, the rest freezes quite well if you take it out of the can and put into a baggie.

 

[Gerrycooks]

Baking soda will neutralize the acid since it is a base. Add a small amount and taste until you get the taste right.

 

[jennyema]

I am under the impression that sugar doesn't actually neutralize the acid, but rather balances it on the palate, making you taste it less. Yellow tomatoes sometimes contain the same amount of acid as red ones, but have higher sugar levels, making them taste less acidic.

 

[middie]

i like using brown sugar in mine

 

[tats802]

I always add sugar and I never use tomato paste or tomatoes that have the seeds or skins, that is what causes the acidity. Good luck.

 

[summergirl]

add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.I just saw this in a cooking magazine can't remember which one ..
summergirl

 

[Horab]

this is informative

i use brown sugar too, i have used baking soda

never heard of grape jelly and i usually don't havewhite wine on hand

and i never connected tomato paste to acidity but tats802 is right

 

[Ham Hock]

I have done many of these things too, I prefer to use sweet onions and sweet bells, but on occasion I have used brown sugar that I have caramelized in a saucepan by wetting it with either white wine or balsamic vinegar or both, as balsamic takes on distinctive sweet attributes when used this way.
It's sort of the same thing you do when making a Bananas Foster just without the rum and bananas.

I suppose that I like my sause a little sweet sometimes.