Tomato sauce - kinda sour/bitter - any suggestions?

[Bellyman]

Tomatoes are coming in for us. And they've been wonderful in sandwiches. But we love a good tomato sauce, maybe you'd call it a marinara sauce as we don't put meat in it.

Anyway, we tried a batch of it yesterday and were pretty disappointed in the results.

Started with the tomatoes and ran them through a food strainer. That basically removed the skins and seeds, which I had always thought was where most of the sour/bitter flavor came from. We ended up with about 12 quarts of watery puree that got put on the stove, along with a little salt, and cooked for quite a few hours. It didn't burn on the bottom at all, so I didn't do that. The pot was nice and clean when it was all over with, didn't need much more than rinsed out.

When the sauce was reduced to about 6 quarts, I added a sautéed onion (I used a white onion, not a yellow one, which I'm wondering if that's part of the reason for the sharp taste.) I added a bit of cooked pepper, which is also a little sharp... I kind think I should have left that out. I added a bit more salt some fresh oregano, some fresh basil, some very lightly sautéed garlic (about 1.5 bulbs) and a little sugar because we weren't liking the sharp taste. Added a bit of olive oil, and a bit of butter, too, which I've heard can help. Helped, yes, but still not what it needed.

The sugar helped a little. And a little extra salt helped a little. But that didn't take care of that sharp taste.

Honestly, it tasted like with a little extra work, it would make a wonderful ketchup. But that's not what we were trying to make.

I've wondered whether I should have roasted the tomatoes before cooking them. I've wondered whether I should have gotten rid of some of the juice so I wouldn't be cooking down quite so long. I've wondered about using a yellow (or even Vidalia) onion instead of a white one.

I must be doing something wrong. I wish I was better able to tell a sour from a bitter because I know they're different. But I can't say for sure.

Anyway, I thought maybe some of you might have some suggestions.

Oh, the batch ultimately made about 5 1/2 quarts of sauce if that gives you any idea of how much it was cooked down. The consistency was wonderful. Just right. Now, if only the flavor was...

Anybody??

[Vickie44]

What kind of tomatoes are you using ?

[Becka03]

I have never made sauce with out adding some sugar-
so i am not sure

[Yvonne's hubby]

I would guess maybe a tomato gone bad. Thats the only thing I can think of that would make your sauce sour.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by Vickie44

What kind of tomatoes are you using ?

This batch was about 1/3 cherry tomatoes, 1/3 roma tomatoes and the other third in various varieties that were coming in, I think mostly early girl. All of them have been good eating tomatoes.

I may need to be pickier about which tomatoes I use. It's certainly a possibility. I have been told, though, that the cherry tomatoes can make a fine sauce as well. (?)

Thanks for your input!

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by Becka03

I have never made sauce with out adding some sugar-
so i am not sure

We did add some sugar. And it helped some. But it didn't really take away that bitter edge. Didn't want to go nuts with the sugar as we weren't really looking for a "sweet" sauce.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

I would guess maybe a tomato gone bad. Thats the only thing I can think of that would make your sauce sour.

That is possible. There were a couple of tomatoes that my wife had set aside that she wasn't sure about. I know she cut some away from them but may have used what looked good. Hmmm. I hadn't thought about that but it's entirely possible. I don't know if she tasted to see. She was on the coring and chopping end while I was running the little machine to separate the seeds 'n skins. I'm not sure if there's a way we could go check at this point but it's worth noting for the future.

Thanks!

[TerriLynn]

If you think your sauce is ruined and your thinking of pitching it, I have a suggestion. Try adding some baking soda. It will lower the ph and make it taste sweeter.

I have done this twice on sauce that I thought was ruined. One time it worked great, and the second it didn't help at all.

Might want to try it as a last ditch effort?

[farmgal]

I was also going to say add a tiny amount of baking soda also. I like to add it when it's warm/hot. Seems to work better. This is a great way for people with sugar issues to use very little sugar in their sauce. I'd say start with 1/8 th tsp for a gallon of sauce. Let it work, taste and add more if needed. Too much Basil can also give sauce a bitter taste or just bad tasting basil. Lol. There are some bitter strains out there.

[TnAndy]

If you want a GREAT sauce, grow Amish Paste tomatoes.

Similar to Roma, but grow much larger. We core them, (to remove any green center part) then throw the whole thing in a VitaMix blender (skin, pulp, and seeds) for about 45sec, then heat before canning. The sauce will be thicker right out of the blender than cooking other varieties down for HOURS.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by TerriLynn

If you think your sauce is ruined and your thinking of pitching it, I have a suggestion. Try adding some baking soda. It will lower the ph and make it taste sweeter.

I have done this twice on sauce that I thought was ruined. One time it worked great, and the second it didn't help at all.

Might want to try it as a last ditch effort?

Originally Posted by farmgal

I was also going to say add a tiny amount of baking soda also. I like to add it when it's warm/hot. Seems to work better. This is a great way for people with sugar issues to use very little sugar in their sauce. I'd say start with 1/8 th tsp for a gallon of sauce. Let it work, taste and add more if needed. Too much Basil can also give sauce a bitter taste or just bad tasting basil. Lol. There are some bitter strains out there.

I've heard of using a pinch of baking soda. Haven't tried it. I'm told it knocks out the bitter/sour/whatever it is, but also knocks out a lot of the other flavor, too. I might give it a shot.

I wasn't ready to throw it out, exactly. It's just not what I was expecting. I may mix it with another sauce to use it up. I've done that with other previous "failures" and a few of the combinations were really quite good.

I don't know about the basil. I haven't used it in anything else so I don't know. It could be a culprit as well.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by TnAndy

If you want a GREAT sauce, grow Amish Paste tomatoes.

Similar to Roma, but grow much larger. We core them, (to remove any green center part) then throw the whole thing in a VitaMix blender (skin, pulp, and seeds) for about 45sec, then heat before canning. The sauce will be thicker right out of the blender than cooking other varieties down for HOURS.

That looks GOOD, Andy!

Amish Paste tomatoes are one variety I didn't grow this year, although, I do suspect that I may have one plant that showed up that was supposed to be a yellow tomato that's putting out big pink ones that resemble one of those old fashioned Amish Paste tomatoes. There was only one of them in the sauce, though.

Maybe next year I can put in more of the varieties I want rather than what someone else picks out for me... (long story...)

[MullersLaneFarm]

I agree with the Amish Paste ... I'm still waiting for mine to go red. In the mean time, I use my Romas.

Skin, cut, put in pot. Put pot in fridge overnight. The next day, I remove the water that has come to the top and can.

As for the bitterness ... did you add any herbs to your tomatoes besides onions & peppers?? Some herbs can go bitter in canned foods.

[farmgal]

I have used many many varieties over the years and never had bitter from any of them. I wouldn't attribute it to the tomato. I like to mix my varieties. I find the paste, including the Amish a little bland when I didn't mix some others in with it. But I do like growing the Amish pastes as my base tomato as it's large with soft skins, which I don't remove.

[Bellyman]

Originally Posted by MullersLaneFarm

I agree with the Amish Paste ... I'm still waiting for mine to go red. In the mean time, I use my Romas.

Skin, cut, put in pot. Put pot in fridge overnight. The next day, I remove the water that has come to the top and can.

As for the bitterness ... did you add any herbs to your tomatoes besides onions & peppers?? Some herbs can go bitter in canned foods.

I added some fresh oregano, some fresh basil and about a bulb and a half of garlic fresh. Interestingly, the garlic is quite subdued.

(It's possible the garlic wasn't the best either, I didn't grow that. In the past when making sauce from canned tomatoes, I would use quite a lot of garlic to the point of it being quite strong but with it being fresh, it gave it a very buttery taste more so than the bitter garlic flavor I often get from powdered garlic, and I like that, the buttery taste, that is.)

Definitely stuff to think about.

Thanks!

[BlackFeather]

The same complaint was voiced in Countryside and Small Stock Journal last year, I think, It seems to me I remember someone saying to use Roma type tomatoes, something to do with cooking all the water off. That is why I bake the tomatoes (all kinds) to get the water out so I don't have to cook on the stove to make it thick. I bake at 400 for an hour and a quarter give or take depending on the quantity, then remove with slotted spoon press the water out of the baked tomatoes in a colander and run only the pulp through the food mill, sometimes twice. If you pressed the water out well enough, you don't need to cook it down any further. The left over water, put into pitchers, let set over night, skim off the clear water and you have juice to can.

[PNWest]

To the good advise above, I would add that when you pick your tomatoes, promptly remove the caps and stems.

To me, the bitterness that is in the sauce tastes like the smell of 'green' in tomato stems. Understand I have no proof, but tomatoes can't be all that different than other fruits and veggies that start to draw moisture from their attached stems when they are picked.

There is a downside to this. Without the stems, tomatoes begin to decay quicker so its a pick and use right away situation. Give it a try and see if it makes a difference.

[geo in mi]

Ball recommends putting the citric acid, or lemon, and the herbs and salt into the jar, rather than the batch. That way you can taste the batch beforehand and the herbs will mix and cook in the canning process. Just a thought.

http://www.freshpreserving.com/recip...e-tomato-sauce

geo

[Rita]

I too have a problem with a bitter taste in my case it was tomato soup I made. It was a simple recipe so I feel it had something to do with the tomatoes. I tried the sugar and the baking soda and still had the bitterness.

[PrettyPaisley]

Originally Posted by TerriLynn

If you think your sauce is ruined and your thinking of pitching it, I have a suggestion. Try adding some baking soda. It will lower the ph and make it taste sweeter.

I have done this twice on sauce that I thought was ruined. One time it worked great, and the second it didn't help at all.

Might want to try it as a last ditch effort?

Interesting.
Is there a trick to keep it from being so sweet? We grew something small but not as small as a cherry tomato and the sauce is just way too sweet. And I didn't add anything to it - just the flesh of the fruit.