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.

A small balcony, spaces that fit four pots, and even the tightest corners can be converted into a vegetable garden. You don't have to be a farmer to harvest your own tomatoes and other vegetables full of vitamins and energy. Now that the warmer weather is fully upon us and the days are long, aromatic herbs and vegetables reach their peak on the balconies, terraces, and patios of many homes, where all kinds of plants are grown, even if only in small yields. A little bit of sun, and above all, a willingness to get dirty with the soil, is all it takes to harvest homemade organic vegetables.

The potato is a staple food for a large part of the world's population, and humans have been cultivating it for 10,000 years. The first to do so were the people who lived in the mountainous areas of the Andes, in what is now Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, who used the tuber to overcome hunger and grow their societies. It did not arrive in Europe until the second half of the 16th century with the help of Spanish colonization, and it also became a cornerstone of the food pyramid in the Old Continent. Now, an international team of researchers has discovered in a study that this tuber comes from another backbone of our gastronomy: the tomato.

That intense red, centuries ago, could only be the work of the devil. That's what the first people to see them arrive from America believed. They had a reason to believe so, and not just because of the color. The leaves and roots of the tomato plant, as with many other plants in the Solanaceae family, contain a toxic alkaloid, which wreaked havoc on those who tasted them. All that is a thing of the past. The nutritional properties of tomatoes and their flavor have made them a sought-after food. Let's talk more about their properties: they are rich in lycopene, which is what gives them their red color and is also an antioxidant. Another property: beta-carotenes, which are the precursors of provitamin A, which, in turn, is an ally for maintaining bone tissue. And finally, their flavor, which is different and unique compared to many other summer fruits.