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For cooking, the chefs heat-treat the tomatoes. They grind tomatoes to the state of tomato puree. It can be boiling, stewing in oil, or baking in the oven. The composition of tomato sauce also most often includes onions, garlic, sugar, salt, spices to taste.
Other common ingredients: red pepper (sweet and spicy), herbs (parsley, basil, dill), olive oil, vinegar, broth, wine. Fresh tomatoes for the preparation of tomato sauce can be replaced by ready-made tomato paste, in its pure form, or diluted with water, vegetable oil.
The Story
The earliest people who started planting tomatoes were the Aztecs. Tomatoes began to grow in their gardens as early as 5000 years BC. Columbus first gave tomatoes to Americans in the fifteenth century. However, people were afraid to eat them for two centuries, believing that tomatoes were grown by the devil himself (and all because of their red color).
For the first time, people began to cook ketchup about a thousand and a half years ago in the Chinese provinces and used it as a seasoning in recipes for preparing different intricate dishes.
The sauce was not always tomato. From the very beginning, tomatoes were absent from their composition, since they were considered poisonous. The chefs prepared ketchup from fish brine, mussels, beans, nuts, preferably walnuts, and a mushroom mixture.
However, there is evidence that the ancient Maya people used tomato sauce for medicinal purposes. The tomato had a bloody color, which means it was able to restore health. To various wounds and bruises, people used compresses made of fresh tomato pulp. But the history of this tomato sauce dates back to the 1820s.
Nowadays tomato sauce is famous in fast-food restaurants.
Chemical composition
The classic composition of ketchup is a sauce made of tomatoes, water, vinegar, and spices. As for spices, cooks most often use cloves, onions, cinnamon, mustard, black pepper, paprika, nutmeg, ginger, fennel, bay leaf, and many others. For sweetness, they add a little sugar or sugar syrup.
Cheaper types of ketchup have a variety of flavors, thickeners, stabilizers, and flavor enhancers in their composition. Some manufacturers use whole spices in their manufacture, others crushed spices.
There are also artificially created spices, which are also successfully used in the food industry. The leader in food additives is chili ketchup ‒ with the addition of hot red pepper or its varieties.
The reason for this is simple ‒ there are a lot of thrill-seekers among the consumers of this delicious sauce, the addition of this product brings with it several valuable vitamins to ketchup: A, C, K, and R.
The caloric content of the product varies depending on the components. On average, it is about 100 kcal per 100 grams. It is rich in carbohydrates (26.2 grams) and water (69.16 grams). But it contains little fat and protein, respectively 0.2 and 1.3 grams.
Natural tomato ketchup is valued for its high content of the antioxidant lycopene (14308 mcg). It includes such minerals as: potassium (315 mg), calcium (16 mg), sodium (907 mg), magnesium (15 mg), phosphorus (28 mg), manganese (0.099 mg), selenium (0.3 mcg), zinc (0.24 mg), iron (0.41 mg), copper (130 mcg) and fluorine (15.1 mcg).
The product contains B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, choline, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, and folates), ascorbic acid, and tocopherol (vitamin E). It contains both fatty acids and sterols, as well as some interchangeable and essential amino acids.
Health benefits
In the 30s of the XIX century, people could buy tomato sauce at a pharmacy, with the help of ketchup, you can get rid of skin diseases, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and hair loss.
Now, this seems a little strange, but there is some truth in this statement. One of the many components present in tomato sauce is lycopene. It is thanks to him that ripe tomatoes turn red. Lycopene is an excellent antioxidant.
There is information that it even helps in the fight against cancerous tumors and congenital mutations. The human body needs lycopene, but it cannot produce it independently, and it is absorbed only with food rich in vegetable fats.
People in old age are particularly acutely in need of this substance, it is necessary for such a category of people to eat tomato sauce.
Possible contraindications
All the advantages can be attributed only to homemade tomato sauce since store-bought products often contain different flavorings, preservatives, and dyes in their composition. That is why, to get only the benefits, and not the harm, of tomato sauce, prepare it yourself.
The harm of sauces lies in the high content of preservatives and flavor enhancers, all kinds of synthetic additives. If you have prepared a sauce from natural products and contains a minimum of additives, it can be harmful with increased content of fat or sugar-salt.
Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate any – not only tomato – sauce from these points of view:
- the content of preservatives and flavor enhancers
- the fat content
- the sugar and salt content
As for tomato sauce, if it contains a moderate amount of preservatives, it is not harmful and you can use it in cooking. But, unfortunately, it is not so easy to find a more or less natural sauce.
Hence the advice: you can learn how to cook it yourself, which is not difficult, especially in the summer and autumn periods, when tomatoes are available.
If you do not want to make a sauce with your own hands, pay close attention to the composition and shelf life when buying: a natural and healthy sauce includes a minimum of “synthetics” and has a short shelf life, also it contains a moderate amount of salt, sugar and other spices.
How to make tomato sauce
Tomato sauce is a universal sauce that is suitable for any meat. It will also be an ideal addition to Italian pasta. It consists of the world-famous tomato paste, garlic, black pepper, basil, and soy sauce.
Ingredients:
- Tomato paste – 100 g
- Garlic – 4 g
- Soy sauce – 50 g
- Ground black pepper – 0.5 tsp.
- Dried basil – 1 tsp.
- Salt – 2 g
Cooking instruction:
- Prepare all the ingredients. Peel the garlic.
- Take a bowl and add the tomato paste, soy sauce, basil, garlic, and black pepper. Add a pinch of salt.
- Mix all the ingredients in one bowl until smooth.
To reduce the sharpness of the tomato sauce, put a little less garlic and black pepper there.
Garlic irritates the gastric mucosa, so people with a tendency to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract should limit the use of spicy foods. Put the ready-made tomato sauce in a special saucepan and serve it on the table. Such a beautiful addition will appeal to all guests.
Bon Appetit!
What is the best way to freeze fresh tomatoes?
Freezing is a simple and affordable way for everyone to keep vegetables fresh. Of course, they will not be as delicious as from the garden. But there is one huge benefit here – products can retain all substances. It is even easier to freeze vegetables than to preserve them. To do this, you need only tomatoes and a freezer.
- For freezing, choose fleshy tomatoes (they are not very watery). You can spread them out on a towel or wipe them.
- Cut the vegetables into slices or circles. After slicing, freeze them.
- Take a flat cup, tray, baking tray, or cutting board. Wrap the item in a bag or food wrap, spread out the sliced tomatoes, and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours.
- After the time has elapsed, take out the frozen tomatoes, put them in bags, seal them tightly (so that no foreign smell is absorbed), and put them in the freezer for storage.
Freezing tomato sauce VS canning
Most people believe that there are very few vitamins left in canned food. It’s all about heat treatment — due to heating or supercooling, all beneficial substances destroy.
When canning, products can be heated to 95-120 C for several minutes, so that all bacteria die in the jar. It prevents the process of spoiling the product and at the same time kills some of the vitamins.
There are also substances whose benefits only increase after heating: the antioxidants lycopene and beta carotene contained in tomatoes are much easier for the body to perceive in a heated form.
So these vegetables are much more beneficial to absorb from cans than in fresh form. As for minerals calcium, magnesium, and others, they do not suffer from canning in any way.
Experts consider freezing one of the healthiest ways to preserve food. It allows you to save much more vitamins than conventional canning and does not require harmful additives, such as salt and sugar.
The taste of frozen foods is minimally different from fresh ones — at least, compared to their canned counterparts. However, few beneficial substances are preserved.
How long can you freeze tomato sauce?
You can use frozen tomatoes in hot and cold dishes, for sauces, pizza, drinks. If the temperature is lower or equal to -18 degrees Celsius, then you can store tomatoes for up to 10 months. If the temperature is higher, the shelf life is reduced to 4 months.
Best containers to freeze spaghetti sauce
The main criterion for choosing containers for freezing is the safety of their use, namely the suitability of the materials from which this container is made. It is also resistant to heating and cooling. The marking on the bottom of the container or its packaging will help you choose a container for freezing and defrosting food.
- The most important symbol that must necessarily be on the container is the sign “fork and glass”, meaning that the dishes are suitable for use with food.
- The next icon that must be on the container if you want to freeze food in it is “snowflake”. Often, under this icon, they write the minimum temperature that the dishes can withstand.
- The microwave oven is the most frequent device for defrosting products, so another significant sign is “waves”, or the image of a microwave oven.
- Additionally, the container may have icons indicating that it can be washed in a dishwasher, indicating the volume of the container, and others. Any crossed-out icons mean a ban on one or another use of plastic dishes.
Does freezing a sauce affect flavor?
One of the main qualities of a tomato is its characteristic flavor. When you freeze the product, it loses its texture when thawed and becomes soft. Freezing destroys the cellulose fibers (they contain water) and expands them when they freeze.
The result is soft and watery. From this we can draw an unambiguous conclusion: freezing tomatoes reduces their flavor.
Can you freeze spaghetti sauce in Ziploc bags?
A characteristic feature of ziplock packages is a lock in the upper part, which consists of two polypropylene strips that you can fasten and unbutton. The grooves and protrusions provide a tight connection that does not allow air to pass through.
Packages with ziplock have an undeniable advantage – it is reusable. You can open and close the clasp repeatedly, and the protective properties of the packaging do not change for the worse, makes this method of packaging very popular and most in-demand.
Manufacturers make them from high-pressure polyethylene. Specialists actively use them in medicine, industry, science, and even in everyday life. The high quality of the material makes them indispensable for food packaging.
The main advantages of packages with ziplock:
- the ability to use it repeatedly the
- preservation of the freshness of products
- low price
- dust and moisture resistance
Is it OK to freeze spaghetti sauce with meat?
You can frize the sauce with meat under several conditions.
Make sure that you cooked the meat to the desired temperature before adding it to the sauce and freezing it. Allow the bolognese sauce to cool completely before pouring it into storage containers in the freezer.
Summary
Tomato sauce is a universal seasoning and a good marinade, as it is perfectly combined with many culinary products. Tomato sauce is distinguished from other types of similar products by the pronounced taste of tomatoes, as well as the aroma of these fruits.
In various cuisines of the world, it is customary to serve it with a variety of dishes. In combination with tomato sauce, meat, fish, all kinds of vegetables, eggs and much more acquire new flavors and aromatic nuances.
Today, you can not only buy different types of tomato sauce ready-made in most grocery stores but also prepare them for the future yourself.