To save money I like to make a batch of spaghetti using tinned tomatoes, garlic and basil, it lasts a few days

Question

and it's kind to my pocket, especially around bills time.

My problem is that it tastes too sweet because of the tinned tomatoes. Is there anything I can add to take the sweetness away? Or dampen it down a little at least.
At the moment I use olive oil, tinned tomatoes, garlic and basil.

Answer 1

try a different brand of tomatoes - some of them are made with a tomato sauce not tomato juice.


most of the store economy ranges are sweetener less - cheap too

Answer 2

Forget the canned tomatoes Cae, if you look in Sainsburys, Morrison's or Asda, you will find cartons of chopped tomatoes for about 40p - pure toms, no sugar.

Sainsburys also do one with fresh basil added, but it is about 70p a carton. the only way to reduce sweetness, is to chill, but cold spag bog is not as nice as warm, so don't go this route.

The best bargain was in Lidl, and Aldi, they did big tubs of passata, the reduced tomatoes, which is what the Italians use. they put the toms on the roof in a plastic bag, and let them ret down into a mush. it is great, but we do not have the heat here to do this, and they tend to rot instead, and loose their flavour.

Plum tomatoes such as Roma or San Marzano are the most common choice for canning, but they add sugar to help preserve the fruit.

Crushed tomatoes, commonly used for pasta sauces, are made by adding the ground tomatoes to a heavy medium made from tomato paste - but I like to make sure that I use a GM free paste, so dont trust the commercial stuff.

The Passatta is a tomato puree - generally lacks the additives common to a complete tomato sauce, and does not have the thickness of paste. The flavour can be a bit -over cooked- for quickly prepared food, if you want a fresh taste. However, in a pasta sauce, it is better - I use it in all sauces that take time to stew.

another thickener is to use onions that have reduced down, this can sweeten the sauce up without adding sugar to it, when you start to use unsweetened tomatoes, you may find that it has moved so far the other way, that you will need to sweeten it up a little.

You can get a bargain bucket of end of date tomatoes, cut them into quarters, and cover with a little oil, basil and oregano, and put in a cool oven for a couple of hours to make a slow roasted tomatoes, which is wicked to add to the sauce at the last minute dot com - or use as a starter. they last three days in the fridge, and are great chilled.

Answer 3

San Marzano Tomatoes Sainsburys

Answer 4

THE REAL ITALIEN WAY:
Put a little of EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil in a pan, let it get hot, put cut onions, and let soute'add garlic and (a little Italian secret) pour a little salt. When soft add tomato peeled with juice (squeeze the tomatoes in your hands before put in the pot).bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 to 45 mins. If it get to dry add a little of vegetable stock or water. stare every now and than, at the end add salt and fresh basil leaves.
(AND MADONNA) you have a delicious tomato sauce
BUON APPETITO

Answer 5

To take the taste of salt away you are essentially 'de-acidifying' it, cooking it for longer, cooking it off the liquid concentrates the acid reducing it considerably, and thickening the sauce as I imagine tinned tomatoes starts the process very watery as far as I can remember when I've forgotten to pick up puree.

Answer 6

Basil is on the sweet side. You could omit it, or add other herbs and spices, i.e. Italian flat leaf parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, or add a little cream or half and half. You might try adding a shot of vodka, or red wine and let it cook down.

Answer 7

I always add a can of diced tomatos to jar sauces when I dont have time to make the sauce from scratch. You will love the extra texture and taste. Add a tablespon of sugar to the sauce also to cut out a little acidity and add a sweet tangy taste to the sauce. YUM!

Answer 8

substituting real tomatoes for about half the tinned tomatoes will help a lot.

Answer 9

I buy cans of spaghetti sauce for less than a dollar and found that even kinder to my pocket.....I spice it up sometimes with lea and perrins wosterchire sauce.

Answer 10

try adding some chopped onions, and also some tomato puree, my mum always added that when she felt it was too sweet, also a vege stock cube as well