A quick healthy cooking tip

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Recipe Collection -> Healthy Cooking

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

Seraph

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 2:08 pm

I think all of us in call camps of the "what is healthy cooking" spectrum will agree that the fewer sweeteners, whether honey, sugar, stevia, xylitol, or splenda, the better.

This is a quick tip that can help you lower your sweetener intake without compromising taste.

Ever make a food that is tart, so you need sweetener to balance it out and not make it too sour? Like fruit compote or tomato based dishes?

While the food is cooking, add a pinch of baking soda. The baking soda will react with the acid and neutralize the acidity, making it less tart. Add a little baking soda at a time, until you minimize the tartness to an extent that you enjoy it. This way, you either need no sweetener at all, or can use less altogether.

I just made a really yummy tomato sauce with no sweetener. At first, it was way too tart as it was, but I added a pinch of baking soda at a time, probably a teaspoon all together, and once the tartness was mostly gone, the natural sweetness of the tomatoes was able to shine.

Just wanted to share this tip with you.

Raisin

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 2:28 pm

I never put sweetener in tomato sauce. why would I?

ra_mom

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 2:33 pm

Thanks for the tip!

Could adding baking soda make the sauce less nutritious by any chance, like it does when added to beans?

Seraph

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 2:36 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Thanks for the tip!

Could adding baking soda make the sauce less nutritious by any chance, like it does when added to beans?

I honestly don't know enough about why it lowers the nutrition in beans, but I dont see why it should make tomato sauce less nutritious, as the only thing the baking soda reacts with is acid.

And Raisin, I don't know about you, but tomato sauce here is quite tart, and I prefer a non sour sauce.

Simple1

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 4:02 pm

But then you have to worry about the aluminum? I know baking powder has it; does baking soda also have it?

Seraph

Wed, Nov 30 2011, 4:08 pm

Simple1 wrote:

But then you have to worry about the aluminum? I know baking powder has it; does baking soda also have it?

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, no aluminum in it.

Simple1

Thu, Dec 01 2011, 10:25 pm

Seraph wrote:

Simple1 wrote:

But then you have to worry about the aluminum? I know baking powder has it; does baking soda also have it?

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, no aluminum in it.

Oh ok. I wasn't sure.

shnitzel

Thu, Dec 01 2011, 11:58 pm

Don't you need to eliminate/reduce the salt? Baking soda tastes really salty.

I like the tart taste, I don't like tomato sauce that has sugar added and I always bake or cook with the tartest apples I can fine.

Seraph

Fri, Dec 02 2011, 12:28 am

shnitzel wrote:

Baking soda doesn't taste salty when it has reacted with the acid...

ewa-jo

Fri, Dec 02 2011, 5:33 am

Raisin wrote:

I never put sweetener in tomato sauce. why would I?

A lot of tomato pastes have sweeteners added. You really have to read the label to make sure you're getting just tomatoes.

ChossidMom

Fri, Dec 02 2011, 5:45 am

Thanks for the tip.
Yes Ewa-jo. In Israel, unfortunately, most of the tomato pastes have "fructose". It makes me so mad. Exploding anger

BeershevaBubby

Fri, Dec 02 2011, 6:00 am

Tal brand tomato paste is the only Israeli brand I've found that has nothing but tomatoes in it. No sweeteners added.

And I'm going to second whoever said... 'tomato sauce with sweetener'? Who does that?

cranberry

Sun, Dec 04 2011, 12:35 pm

Do you think this would work with cranberry sauce?

I tried making it with honey instead of sugar, and while it tasted fine when I ate it with another food, when I ate the plain cranberry sauce there was a strong honey flavor. I was going to try it with just less honey, but maybe this will work instead.

Seraph

Sun, Dec 04 2011, 12:41 pm

cranberry wrote:

No clue. I don't know. Part of the cranberry sauce aspect is that you WANT it to be tart, so minimizing the tartness will ruin the point.

freidasima

Sun, Dec 04 2011, 1:25 pm

use organic then it has only tomatoes in it.

HindaRochel

Sun, Dec 04 2011, 1:42 pm

Cranberry sauce is suppose to be tart sweet. It is extremely tart without sweetening.
Tomato sauce I add maybe 1/2 a tsp of sugar if that to a whole saucepan.
It isn't tartness of tomatoes, it is acidic, there is a different quality. I can try a bit of baking soda and see if that works, but really what the sugar does is bring out the flavor of the tomatoes and reduce the acidic bite. The flavors "marry" better, that is there is no overriding flavor of sweet/salty/tart/bitter etc, but a delicate tomato flavor.

Since I use so little, I can't imagine that much of a difference in the end but I'll give it a whirl.

BTW I use either tomatoes, or tomato paste without sugar or anything else. I really prefer to use my own tomatoes.

lst

Mon, Dec 05 2011, 2:50 pm

YESHASettler wrote:

Just wanted to let you know... I checked all of the tomato pastes I had in my cabinet. Shufersal brand is 100% tomato, no added sugar.

Page 1 of 1