Marinara sauce that is orange, not red as i desire

[frankswsj]

I make 5 1/2 quarts of marinara sauce about every 3 weeks and have been doing this for almost 3 years now. It is always great tasting and is deep red in color as i like it. I use 5 - 28 oz cans of Hunt's Diced Tomatoes (some times use up to 2 cans of Great Value - Walmart brand when I can't get all Hunt's). Both brands appear identical.

Just made another batch of the sauce and it came out ORANGE in color - taste is not affected but I am disappointed with the color ! Can anyone 1) tell me why this happened (perhaps using too much evoo ? I used 1 cup - usually only use 3/4 cup) and 2) is there any way to correct this color, make it red. Thanks.

 

[PolishedTopaz]

Maybe this is the cause?

http://discusscooking.com/viewtopic.php?t=5570&highlight=tomatoes

 

[marmalady]

I don't think the EVOO was the problem, more like the tomatoes you used. Can you try adding a little tomato paste to the sauce? Just do little bits at a time, so you won't ruin the basic taste of the sauce.

 

[jennyema]

Do you run it through a food processor or regular blender? That is often the cause of orangie-looking sauce. FP and regular blenders incorporate air which makes the sauce orange. A stick blender or food mill will help keep the sauce redder.

Also, I guess it depends on how much sauce you are making, but a cup of EVOO sounds like a lot. It's hard to emulisfy spaghetti sauce. But I agree with marm that I don't think that is the source of the problem you are asking about.

 

[frankswsj]

Marinara sauce that is ORANGE, not RED as I desire

I wanted to wait an extra day to see if any more replies were forthcoming. I appreciate the rapid and thoughtful responses that I received - thank you for caring. I also believe that the blending may have contributed to some part of the lightened color, but not the tomatoes themselves as they were a normal red right out of the can. The major factor, I feel, was in the extra EVOO I used and that was the only thing that was different. The oil depth came up over 1/4 inch from the bottom of the saucepot. It was much more than needed and I had thought of draing it out but just thought it would show up as 'oily' on top of the sauce and that didn't bother me. It didn't come to the top.

I also have one other thing happening that you will not believe ! My wife put away 4 quarts in the freezer and left about 1 quart in a container in the REFRIGERATOR. Today that quart in the refrig had turned to a LIGHT RED color - not quite the deep red I want, but acceptable !! I now am planning to take the ones out of the freezer one at a time and defrosting in the frig to see if they change color - do not understand what is happening but if continues, will be great ! Any further thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[scott123]

Do you run it through a food processor or regular blender? That is often the cause of orangie-looking sauce. FP and regular blenders incorporate air which makes the sauce orange. A stick blender or food mill will help keep the sauce redder.

A fat free sauce won't turn orange when blended. It's the fat that emulsifies/goes cream colored. Basically by blending you take the sauce in a mayo-like direction.