# Too much sugar in pasta sauce



## cindylovesitaly (May 20, 2012)

I followed a recipe for pasta sauce that I found online but I followed the advice of several reviewers who said to add 1/2 cup sugar to the sauce to cut the acidic taste. Well, as you probably know, this was way too much sugar even for a huge recipe like this. 

Does anyone have suggestions for how to make this sauce edible? The over all flavor is great just too sweet. I hate to throw it out.

Thanks


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 20, 2012)

Do you have lemon juice?  I can't think of anything else off hand that would not change the flavor profile, too much.


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## GotGarlic (May 20, 2012)

Honestly, all I can think of is to add pectin and turn it into tomato jam. That's an awful lot of sugar. How much sauce does the recipe make?


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## merstar (May 20, 2012)

The best thing to do is to make other batch or a double batch without any sugar, and add it to this one. 

Lemon juice or vinegar might work, but it would probably call for an overload to balance out all that sugar.


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## Andy M. (May 20, 2012)

Yet another reason to never use sugar in tomato sauce.

Your best bet is to try to dilute it by adding more tomato and other ingredients.


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## GLC (May 20, 2012)

Something acidic. I wonder how many of these sugar-added tomato sauce recipes are of real early origin. Most tomatoes today have had so much acid bred out of them that the old canning wisdom for tomatoes has changed.


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## justplainbill (May 20, 2012)

1/2 cup = 24 teaspoons.  I add <2 teaspoons per two 28 ounce cans of tomatoes.


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## Andy M. (May 20, 2012)

For an ingredient such as sugar in tomato sauce, I'd treat it like salt - add a little and taste.  Repeat as necessary.


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## justplainbill (May 20, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> For an ingredient such as sugar in tomato sauce, I'd treat it like salt - add a little and taste.  Repeat as necessary.


In NY some people ask 'How's your hammer hanging'; is that an expression you've heard in your neck of the woods ?


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## Andy M. (May 20, 2012)

No.  I don't know what it means or its relevance here.  Please explain.


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## Uncle Bob (May 20, 2012)

merstar said:


> The best thing to do is to make other batch or a double batch without any sugar, and add it to this one.
> 
> Lemon juice or vinegar might work, but it would probably call for an overload to balance out all that sugar.




This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 Standing ovation!


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## taxlady (May 20, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Yet another reason to never use sugar in tomato sauce.
> 
> Your best bet is to try to dilute it by adding more tomato and other ingredients.


+1


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## TATTRAT (May 20, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Yet another reason to never use sugar in tomato sauce.
> 
> Your best bet is to try to dilute it by adding more tomato and other ingredients.



I have often wondered that too. . .I just don't get it. A lot of the acid has been breed out of tomatoes. and if you have say, onion in there, sweat the onion down more, or lightly caramelize it for better depth, or sweetness. Even a little fine grated carrot, not enough to taste, but helps the edge if by chance the sauce is acidic.


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## cindylovesitaly (May 20, 2012)

Thank you everyone. Yes, I certainly should have put a little in at a time if at all. However, I added a little over a 1/2 teaspoon salt, a little bit of lemon juice, and more of the garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. My husband said it was good and I think it's certainly good enough to eat.  Next time I'll stick to the recipe. C


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## Andy M. (May 20, 2012)

TATTRAT said:


> I have often wondered that too. . .I just don't get it. A lot of the acid has been breed out of tomatoes. and if you have say, onion in there, sweat the onion down more, or lightly caramelize it for better depth, or sweetness. Even a little fine grated carrot, not enough to taste, but helps the edge if by chance the sauce is acidic.



Right!  I also add tomato paste and caramelize that some.  It adds more sweetness.


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## lyndalou (May 21, 2012)

I never put sugar in my sauce. I usually add about 1/2 - 1 tsp. cinnamon depending on how much sauce I am making.


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## NikitaLysytskiy (May 21, 2012)

If I make tomato paste myself with fresh tomatos, I never add sugar in it. One important сondition here: tomatoes must be juicy, soft and crimson.
If I use tomato paste from supermarket I always add some sugar.


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## Bigjim68 (May 21, 2012)

I agree, Andy.  I don't add any sugar to tomato sauce.  I have never had a problem with it being too acid.


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## Cerise (May 21, 2012)

cindylovesitaly said:


> Thank you everyone. Yes, I certainly should have put a little in at a time if at all. However, I added a little over a 1/2 teaspoon salt, a little bit of lemon juice, and more of the garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. My husband said it was good and I think it's certainly good enough to eat. Next time I'll stick to the recipe. C


 
Welcome, Cindy.  Glad you were able to 'salvage' your sauce. I was going to suggest adding wine or vodka, or pancetta or bacon (to counteract the sweetness); or turn it into a Bolognese.  It's hard to tell w/o seeing the recipe.  Try to taste as you go, and adjust the seasonings.  We learn from our cooking mistakes.


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## kadesma (May 21, 2012)

cindylovesitaly said:


> Thank you everyone. Yes, I certainly should have put a little in at a time if at all. However, I added a little over a 1/2 teaspoon salt, a little bit of lemon juice, and more of the garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. My husband said it was good and I think it's certainly good enough to eat.  Next time I'll stick to the recipe. C


My recie comes from my m-i-l She was Italian and from Genoa we never but never put sugar in our tomato gravy !!! Instead we use wonderful herbs,and dried wild mushrooms that we reconstitute adding the beautiful brown broth it gives us to this gravy. It is yummy and we freeze it for different pasta's. Think about it It works and you can always add suger if you want to.
kadesma


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## buckytom (May 21, 2012)

welcome, cindy. 

in the future, besides "diluting"  - for lack of a better term - the sauce with another sugarless one, cerise had good ideas. turn it into a sauce that welcomes sweetness, including meat, or maybe a pizza sauce.


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## Luca Lazzari (May 23, 2012)

lyndalou said:


> I never put sugar in my sauce. I usually add about 1/2 - 1 tsp. cinnamon depending on how much sauce I am making.



Sometimes I add it, sometimes I don't. If I use a ready _passata di pomodoro_ (tomato sauce) I taste it and decide what to do. Some of them are too sour for me, and in this case I add no more then half a teaspoon of sugar in 400 g (0.9 lbs) of tomato sauce.
But I admit I do it because I saw chefs doing it. I have to do some test, to see if my ability to detect food flavours let me REALLY tell the "sugared" tomato sauce from the "sugarless".


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## salt and pepper (May 23, 2012)

When I make "red gravy" I add 1 Tbsp sugar to ajust the acid but also add 1 Tbsp cider vinegar to nutralize the sweetness.


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## Andy M. (May 23, 2012)

salt and pepper said:


> When I make "red gravy" I add 1 Tbsp sugar to ajust the acid but also add 1 Tbsp cider vinegar to nutralize the sweetness.



Interesting.  You add sugar because there is too much acid then add more acid to kill the sweetness...  

Why not just neutralize the acid directly.  Add a tiny amount of baking soda and stir it in.  It will act immediately.  Mix thoroughly and taste.  Repeat as needed.


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## taxlady (May 23, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Interesting.  You add sugar because there is too much acid then add more acid to kill the sweetness...
> 
> Why not just neutralize the acid directly.  Add a tiny amount of baking soda and stir it in.  It will act immediately.  Mix thoroughly and taste.  Repeat as needed.


I was wondering the same thing.


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## CWS4322 (May 23, 2012)

TATTRAT said:


> I have often wondered that too. . .I just don't get it. A lot of the acid has been breed out of tomatoes. and if you have say, onion in there, sweat the onion down more, or lightly caramelize it for better depth, or sweetness. Even a little fine grated carrot, not enough to taste, but helps the edge if by chance the sauce is acidic.


I read an article a few years ago on the decreased acidity in tomatoes and the increase in sodium. This is, if I recall, a result of the hybridization and effort to produce tomatoes that have thicker skins and are more stable for shipping. If I recall, the sodium increase was as high as 200% and the acidity has been reduced so that when canning tomatoes one has to add lemon juice. I don't know if I can find the article, it might still be here at the farm.


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## taxlady (May 23, 2012)

CWS4322 said:


> I read an article a few years ago on the decreased acidity in tomatoes and the increase in sodium. This is, if I recall, a result of the hybridization and effort to produce tomatoes that have thicker skins and are more stable for shipping. If I recall, the sodium increase was as high as 200% and the acidity has been reduced so that when canning tomatoes one has to add lemon juice. I don't know if I can find the article, it might still be here at the farm.


This isn't really anything new. My 1975 edition of _Joy of Cooking_ talks about reduced acidity in tomatoes and the need for lemon juice or citric acid when hot water bath canning tomatoes. Increase in sodium is a bummer.


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## CWS4322 (May 23, 2012)

taxlady said:


> This isn't really anything new. My 1975 edition of _Joy of Cooking_ talks about reduced acidity in tomatoes and the need for lemon juice or citric acid when hot water bath canning tomatoes. Increase in sodium is a bummer.


The article was about heirloom tomatoes and the hybrids one sees at nurseries, how to pick the tomato for your purposes, the pros and cons of each. And, mentioned the sodium/acid issue. Heirloom tomatoes supposedly have lower sodium and higher acid than hybrids.


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## taxlady (May 23, 2012)

CWS4322 said:


> The article was about heirloom tomatoes and the hybrids one sees at nurseries, how to pick the tomato for your purposes, the pros and cons of each. And, mentioned the sodium/acid issue. Heirloom tomatoes supposedly have lower sodium and higher acid than hybrids.


Makes sense that the heirlooms would be lower sodium and higher acid than the new-fangled tomatoes.


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## Claire (May 24, 2012)

I don't can, I roast then freeze to make my sauce.  I've really never thought tomato sauce needs sugar, and don't like jars of sauce for that reason.  I think I've read all the posts (sometimes I don't catch up to a site early enough and miss a page!), so am probably being repetitive and I know your problem is taken care of.  But a dry red wine or inexpensive balsamic vinegar (the more expensive, highly aged ones are sweet) would help.


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## CharlieD (May 24, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Interesting. You add sugar because there is too much acid then add more acid to kill the sweetness...
> 
> Why not just neutralize the acid directly. Add a tiny amount of baking soda and stir it in. It will act immediately. Mix thoroughly and taste. Repeat as needed.


 

Interesting, I've never used soda. Note to self: try it next time.

But I think as far as adding vinegar, that means that too much sugar was added. I use sugar to kill acidity, but you have to add a little bit at the time so not to make it sweet.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 24, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Interesting.  You add sugar because there is too much acid then add more acid to kill the sweetness...
> 
> Why not just neutralize the acid directly.  Add a tiny amount of baking soda and stir it in.  It will act immediately.  Mix thoroughly and taste.  Repeat as needed.



How about adding lye? Yeah, sodium hydroxide, NaOH, the same stuff they use in some common drain cleaners.

Before you think I'm absolutely crazy, note that lye is used in the manufacture of pretzels.



> A bread pretzel popular in southern Germany and adjoining  German-speaking areas, as well as in some areas of the United States, is  made from wheat flour, water and yeast, usually sprinkled with coarse  salt, hand-sized and made for consumption on the same day. It is  relatively soft, rather than brittle. To avoid confusion with any other  kind of pretzel, German speakers call this variety "Laugenbrezel" (lye  pretzel) because it is dipped in lye solution (NaOH) before baking.
> 
> Wikipedia: Pretzel



And no I'm not suggesting mixing your pasta sauce with drain cleaner. Food grade NaOH is available online, for example from AAA Chemicals.

This is a serious question. Acidic tomato sauces are often discussed regarding how to cure the acidity. It is common practice in chemistry to neutralize an acid with a base (an alkaline). It may take literally a pinch of lye to neutralize all the acidity right out of your acidic tomato sauce.

Now all we need is anti-sugar and anti-capsaicin.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 24, 2012)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> How about adding lye? Yeah, sodium hydroxide, NaOH, the same stuff they use in some common drain cleaners.
> 
> Before you think I'm absolutely crazy, note that lye is used in the manufacture of pretzels.
> 
> ...



You can't put a "pinch" of lye in anything.  It will burn your fingers...I've watched the exothermic reaction of lye with water and I wouldn't even "play" with putting it in my food.  Carefully using to make lye water for bagels and making soap...sure.  But not in my pot of tomatoes, unless I knew EXACTLY how much to use.  And I wouldn't pick up a pinch.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 25, 2012)

I meant "pinch" in terms of a quantity, not the means to measure such quantity.

Anyway my comments were meant merely to encourage discussion. I don't think anybody is going to try it except those food scientist types who are pushing the limits of cooking by applying chemistry and other exotic techniques.

So, got any anti-sugar?


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## chayati (Jun 21, 2012)

cindylovesitaly said:


> I followed a recipe for pasta sauce that I found online but I followed the advice of several reviewers who said to add 1/2 cup sugar to the sauce to cut the acidic taste. Well, as you probably know, this was way too much sugar even for a huge recipe like this.
> 
> Does anyone have suggestions for how to make this sauce edible? The over all flavor is great just too sweet. I hate to throw it out.
> 
> Thanks




Hello cindylovesitaly,
When we make a soup that is too salty or a sauce that is too sweet, many times  the corrective measure is to add more to correct the issue.  The problem with  adding more is that a small amount of sauce turns into a huge amount that will  end up getting frozen.  In this case that may not be a problem.  I  would recommend adding more tomatoes, spices and salt to balance  the sweetness; you could also reduce some red wine on the side and add this to  your sauce, the acidity will help to balance your sauce as well.  The amount of  your sauce will grow, but you can place it in small containers and freeze them  for later use.  I recommend smaller containers as you can pull out a small  amount when needed.  Otherwise you will end up reheating and freezing which is  never a good idea.  

Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Mark Sandoval


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## Claire (Jun 21, 2012)

If I remember right, hominy is corn cured in lye.  If you look at ingredients for some white corn chips, they are often not really made with white corn but with hominy, yes, lye.  Didn't soap used to be made with lye?  Because believe me, in my family getting your mouth washed out with soap was a common punishment for spoken transgressions (lying,  appropriately, but also swearing and talking back disrespectfully to parents).  But no, that doesn't mean you can put drano in your food!  I wouldn't mess with, but as I've said on other lines, chemestry and math are not my strong suits so I avoid cooking that requires such knowledge.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jun 21, 2012)

Claire said:


> If I remember right, hominy is corn cured in lye.  If you look at ingredients for some white corn chips, they are often not really made with white corn but with hominy, yes, lye.  Didn't soap used to be made with lye?  Because believe me, in my family getting your mouth washed out with soap was a common punishment for spoken transgressions (lying,  appropriately, but also swearing and talking back disrespectfully to parents).  But no, that doesn't mean you can put drano in your food!  I wouldn't mess with, but as I've said on other lines, chemestry and math are not my strong suits so I avoid cooking that requires such knowledge.


Hominy is maize soaked in a weak alkaline solution originally made from leaching wood ashes. (Leaching = soak the ashes in water, throw away the ashes, use the water.) Maize is a type of corn but is not anything like ordinary sweet corn.

Soap used to be and still is made with lye (sodium hydroxide). Soap bars are also made with detergents (stuff from chemical factories) instead of oils, fats and lye. Boutique and hand made soaps are often made by what is called "cold process" (i.e. does not require cooking, ingredients are warm or sometimes even hot -- 80 to 140 degrees F -- where oils, fats and lye (and often colorants and fragrances) are combined and poured into molds, then cut up into bars. Oddly, cold process soap does not taste bad like the soap I recall tasting once or twice as a kid. (I learned my lesson early on.)

(Lye gets _very hot_ when mixed with water, and a steam explosion is a very real possibility if proper precautions are not taken. The heat generated thus is often used to melt any solid fats used in soapmaking.)

No, you can't put Drano in your food, although AFAIK most drain cleaning products have been reformulated without lye because the sodium hydroxide is an important precursor used in making illegal drugs. (Drain cleaners contain very nasty ingredients, sometimes heavy metals, and are the most hazardous substances I have personally used, second only to paint strippers containing methylene chloride.)

Food grade lye is available and is used for making some types of pretzels, and possibly in making hominy, and quite likely finds its way into other food products. Lye is dangerous only in high concentrations. When used in food manufacture it is used only in mild concentrations controlled by experts who are knowledgeable in the process.

There's no reason to be scared of lye, although if you're using it to clean drains you should follow all package precautions, and might be a good idea to wear safety glasses and gloves.


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## Rocklobster (Jun 21, 2012)

Hey. Late to the party, as usual. I would find the person who told you to put half a cup of sugar in your pasta sauce and give them a cyber poke in the eye. That is way too much.  It won't fix your sauce, but it will make you feel better.
As far as the sauce goes, I think you should file this one under "oops". Make a mental  note and move on.


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## Dawgluver (Jun 21, 2012)

Rocklobster said:
			
		

> Hey. Late to the party, as usual. I would find the person who told you to put half a cup of sugar in your pasta sauce and give them a cyber poke in the eye. That is way too much.  It won't fix your sauce, but it will make you feel better.
> As far as the sauce goes, I think you should file this one under "oops". Make a mental  note and move on.



Rock!  Welcome back!!!


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## Rocklobster (Jun 21, 2012)

Dawgluver said:


> Rock!  Welcome back!!!


Howdy.


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## Dawgluver (Jun 21, 2012)

Rocklobster said:
			
		

> Howdy.



We missed you!


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## Andy M. (Jun 21, 2012)

Rocklobster said:


> Howdy.




Good to see you again!


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## Rocklobster (Jun 21, 2012)

Back at ya's.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Jun 21, 2012)

Rocklobster said:


> Hey. Late to the party, as usual.



I'm fairly new to the forum (a year or so) but I know that it's very typical of this forum to bring a topic back to life even years after the OP.

I don't quite recall what I said earlier but I think (upon further reflection) that when you've put in too much sugar, too much salt, too much hot sauce or too much anything else, you should just toss it and make a note to not do that again.

Another good thing to keep in mind is to not make too big a batch when you're trying a new recipe. It's one thing to have your dinner spoiled and quite another thing to have a major investment in several or dozens of meals gambled on whether you like a recipe or not.

And also, it's a good idea to have some familiarity with similar recipes before trying one. It appears the OP had a flawed recipe (specifying too much sugar) and perhaps comparison with other similar recipes would have made the excessive sugar amount obvious.


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## TATTRAT (Jun 25, 2012)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> I don't quite recall what I said earlier but I think (upon further reflection) that when you've put in too much sugar, too much salt, too much hot sauce or too much anything else, you should just toss it and make a note to not do that again.



It is very easy to read back through the thread, though, I think this one has really been covered, and run it's course. . . I dunno. . .

Salt can be a blessing and a curse. As can Sugar. I guess OP will certainly know next time, as there has been a lot of useful info posted here.


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