What can I use if I don’t have crushed tomatoes?
In this blog post, we will answer the following question: What can I use if I don’t have crushed tomatoes? We will discuss how healthy canned tomatoes are, and why you should beware of homemade recipes.
What can I use if I don’t have crushed tomatoes?
If you don’t have crushed tomatoes you should use fresh tomatoes to make a delicious and fresh tomato sauce. What is a fresh tomato sauce good for? If we asked this question in front of a large group of people, it would take less time to record the responses of asking the question backward.
This is because Pomodoro sauce, as Italians would say, is difficult to find enemies; It is liked by everyone and it is one of those life preservers or wild card products that you always have supplies in the pantry.
However, just as it is an easy resource when you have it available on hand in an industrial format, it is not so easy if you make it homemade from scratch, which is always the healthiest option.
It is precisely this association of tomato sauce with the homemade and the important need of time that it requires to be cooked in this way that the most important supermarkets have exploited to find an alternative to the classic fried tomato, which has been one of the products that have concentrated the criticism of nutrition experts the most for its high sugar content.
The new formulas of this sauce have the common characteristic of being labeled as “homemade fried tomato recipe” or some similar denomination. The proliferation of these products is such that we can speak without fear of being wrong that it is as fashionable as hummus or guacamole, to name two other examples that can also be found in any supermarket in industrial format.
Beware of “homemade recipes” for tomato sauce
However, it is when one reads the labeling of all these “homemade recipes”, something that we must get used to doing whenever we are going to do the shopping when one realizes that it only resembles the sauce that is made at home in that it is put in the pot.
And it is that the sugar content, above all, is very high in this type of product so that they are not healthy alternatives to the classic fried tomato, which also contains, among other components, a large dose of sugar in almost all cases.
Be careful, they can be very tasty, of course; in fact, they like them a lot in general, but if we talk about finding the balance between flavor and health within a varied diet, we must look for alternatives to find it beyond this type of tomato sauce.
And what is this alternative in the market for industrially manufactured products? The answer is simple: the crushed tomato, or in its defect, the concentrate. Both are valid options … as long as you make sure by reading the label in detail that it does not have added sugar or any other type of preservative considered negative for health.
Do not worry if you do not know them, because if the product is healthy, it will contain tomato in a very high percentage, 99% in the best cases, and as much salt and acidulant (citric acid), which is an organic substance to level the acidity.
This is the composition of these products packed in cans from supermarkets so easy to find in practically any corner of the world, which is not the only one that has opted to sell these products obtained from a large majority proportion of tomato, almost exclusive in fact.
Crushed tomatoes vs Fresh tomatoes
Obviously, the composition of crushed tomato or concentrated tomato is different from that of fried at an industrial level, but it is worth changing the flavor of the dishes a bit in the interest of health, especially if yours is a family in which you like it a lot this sauce, as it happens in the vast majority of homes, especially if there are children in them.
If you do not want to make the change from one product to another so abrupt or you do not get used to it in the family environment, you can always correct the higher acidity of the crushed or concentrate by adding a pinch of sugar in the cooking, which in any case will be less – if you don’t get out of hand- to the significant amount of industrial sweetener that industrial fried recipes carry.
Of course, it would be advisable to avoid this transition or, at least, limit it as much as possible in time, so that you can assimilate this healthy change as quickly as possible, which is an ideal alternative to continue cooking quick and easy dishes with tomato sauce. with an industrial product, without wasting a minute more than with fried tomato sauces.
Other FAQs about Tomatoes which you may be interested in.
Conclusions
Our recommendation is to use fresh products as much as possible in your cooking. Canned tomatoes bought in the supermarket have a high sugar content and they are not healthy alternatives to the classic fried tomato, which also contains, among other components, a large dose of sugar in almost all cases.
Obviously, the composition of crushed tomato or concentrated tomato is different from that of fried at an industrial level, but it is worth changing the flavor of the dishes a bit in the interest of health.
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