What else is in a jar of tomato sauce besides tomatoes?

Tomato sauce is a very popular product. It's great for making a quick sofrito, for topping macaroni that we don't want to eat plain, and for any other dish where we want to add flavor. The food industry knows we're a big consumer, which is why they produce all types, sizes, formats, and flavors. If you don't believe me, just look at the shelves of your usual supermarket: jars of tomato sauce line up right next to them. Which one do we choose? Without thinking too much, or perhaps after careful consideration, we look at the price that's easiest to afford, and probably also at what's advertised with the right words. homemade either craftsmanwhich leads us to believe it will be the best. However, according to dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols, we should take a closer look at the ingredients. Otherwise, we might end up taking home a jar of tomato sauce that has everything but the main ingredient: tomatoes. To begin with, then, in the list of ingredients, which are written in order of quantity from highest to lowest, the first ingredient should be tomatoes. Only tomatoes. If it's called concentrated tomato sauce, it means there's very little of it because it comes from tomatoes that have been cooked for hours to concentrate the tomato, and then diluted with water. "This is how the food industry reduces production costs," notes Anna Grífols. More jars can be filled from the same tomato if it's concentrated, that is, if it's diluted with water. "If for whatever reason we can only buy one jar of concentrated tomato sauce, the advice is to choose one with a small percentage of tomato; ideally 25% or less," recommends the dietitian-nutritionist.

Olive oil, always preferable

Next, after the tomatoes, we should find olive oil. "Olive oil is always preferable because it oxidizes at high temperatures, 180°C, which doesn't happen with other vegetable oils, like sunflower oil," Grífols continues. If instead of olive oil, we find sunflower or canola oil, we're taking a step down in quality. And thirdly, we should find salt and spices. Ideally, the spices should be specified so we can keep them in mind if we ever want to make them at home. So, the ideal jar of tomato sauce should have these ingredients: tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and spices. But the reality is quite different. They add many other ingredients, such as sugar, which is a tomato acidity regulator, but when added in considerable quantities, it makes the sauce a completely different story. And incidentally, "it can throw off our daily sugar intake." Along with sugar, there's another undesirable ingredient: modified wheat starch. And at this point, it's necessary to pause. "The industry uses it, modified wheat starch, to give tomato sauce consistency, because it thickens it," explains Grífols, who adds that "if we use a tomato sauce with starches to eat a pasta dish, it turns out we're eating more carbohydrates than we think we're consuming from the pasta; it has them."

The conclusion of all this? I wish we could always make it at home. We take a pan, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, grate tomatoes, and add a pinch of salt and any spices we like, such as oregano. If we cook it over low heat, we sauté it. If we cook it over high heat, we fry it. It all depends on what we want: sautéed or fried. I know you'll tell me that there are no tomatoes in January, that they're a summer tomato, and, with climate change, an autumn tomato. True. This summer we can make it. And we store it in glass jars. Then we have enough for the whole year. It might take us less time to do that than to choose the right jar of tomato sauce at the supermarket.