Well, it is clear that it is not necessary to suffer from gastritis to understand that the tomato, as delicious as it is in all its forms, is nevertheless a food with a high concentration of acidity, but it is also true that with a few small and simple tricks it is possible to eliminate it and be able to bring to the table perfect dishes based on tomato sauce. Here’s how. The tomato, as we know, is one of the emblematic ingredients of our culinary tradition, totally essential in our kitchens and recipes, it is in fact a source of inspiration for all chefs and even poets.
Behind its undeniable benefits, however, the tomato hides a fairly high acidity that can spoil our dishes or cause annoying heartburn, especially if it comes to canned peeled tomatoes or tomato sauce. But how is it possible to overcome this problem? Eliminating acidity and therefore not necessarily giving up a delicious dish in which the tomato sauce is the real protagonist, is a very simple thing. Here are, for you, 8 very simple and effective methods to finally say “goodbye” to the acidity of tomatoes.
– Sugar: This is probably the best known and simplest method to reduce the acidity present in a tomato sauce: when it starts to simmer, it is good to add salt and a pinch of white sugar or cane, and mix: the sugar can counterbalance and eliminate the acidity of the tomato, without however altering its flavor or adding too much sweetness to your dish.
– Cinnamon: If using canned or bottled peeled tomatoes, you can “tone down” the acidity by adding half a teaspoon of cinnamon during cooking, but nutmeg is also fine. With this method, the acidity is eliminated without compromising the flavor, but you have to be very careful not to overdo it: the right proportion is half a precise teaspoon for a kilo of tomatoes.
If these first two options do not suit you, you just have to do one thing: cook the tomato as little as possible because, perhaps you do not know it, but the more it cooks, the more acid it becomes. So, if you have to prepare a recipe that also includes tomatoes, add them last, in order to cook them much less time and obtain a low acid dish. The consequence of eating sour tomato sauce, in addition to increasing reflux disorders, is to worsen the symptoms of gastritis or irritable bowel syndrome.