I was explaining this to my daughter in quite simplified terms the other day- we evolved to taste sugar and enjoy it because finding a sweet edible plant meant we had a source of energy to help us hunt that day. Pretty useful if you’re a hunter-gatherer.

So we seek out sugar. Now we can get it whenever we want it, in much more massive quantities than we are supposed to be processing. Most of us are addicted. I’m not an exception.

  • teft@lemmy.world
    58·
    13 days ago

    Try making tomato sauce without sugar. Get back to me when you’ve tasted your horror.

    • CiderApplenTea@lemmy.world
      131·
      13 days ago

      This is ridiculous, I hardly ever make tomato sauce with (added) sugar and it tastes delicious. I suppose if you’re used to sugar being in everything it may taste odd, but it is far from horrendous

      • teft@lemmy.world
        61·
        13 days ago

        Nah, a small amount of sugar improves tomato sauce. It cuts the acidity.

        • CiderApplenTea@lemmy.world
          2·
          13 days ago

          After reading the other comments for a bit, it may depend on the tomatoes. The tomatoes I tend to use don’t need to balance out as much, I suppose

          • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            13 days ago

            The tomatoes used for sauce often time have a higher acid content so you want a little sugar.

            Some tomatoes, especially older heirloom varieties have more sugar than modern varieties and actually will make candy sauce if you’re not careful.

            I spent the summer growing Cherokee purple just to make spaghetti sauce and it was like fucking dessert, no sugar added.

    • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      13 days ago

      If you can afford it, using good quality Italian tomatoes really make a difference.

      I don’t add any sugar in my sauce and it is pretty good and the acidity is at a good level.

      • teft@lemmy.world
        51·
        13 days ago

        I only use Cento san marzanos as the base for my sauce. And i learned to make sauce from my italian grandfather. A small amount of sugar always improves the sauce.

        • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          13 days ago

          Yes, but San Marzano tomatoes that are sweeter are still only 3g of sugar per 100g, and 2g of net carbs per 100g.

          And if you make a mirepoix for your sauce, the sugars in onions and carrots are higher.

          So for people that are afraid of sugar, a sauce made with tomatoes, carrots, onions and celery isn’t as scary as adding sugar.

          And the acidity isn’t considered as well. From experience, they are less acidic as well, so you don’t need to add sugar to mask that.

        • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          13 days ago

          They tend to be less acidic and a bit more sweet. If you use a mirepoix and San Marzano tomatoes, it contains all the sugar you need, and the total net carb is still low.

      • teft@lemmy.world
        21·
        13 days ago

        I’ve never tried stevia in tomato sauce. I’ll give it a try sometime. I’d worry about making it too sweet though since a lot of sweeteners are thousands of times sweeter than sugar.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
          2·
          13 days ago

          I haven’t either, but I think it would work pretty well. The nice thing about stevia is that there are different products to buy with different levels of sweetness. I always put a stronger stevia extract in my tea at home that I get from Amazon because the stevia packets they have in restaurants next to the other sweeteners do not even come close to as sweet.

          Then I have to use the tiny little cocaine spoon that comes with the extract to put some in my tea, and less than a full spoonful because it’s so sweet.

          I’ve also seen stevia products made specifically for baking, so that might be worth a try since I’m guessing they tried to get it 1:1 with sugar.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          13 days ago

          They also taste disgusting.

          I’d rather eat sugar or nothing at all over that shit.

    • Sandbag@lemm.ee
      2·
      13 days ago

      I have done that, it’s not bad, a bit bitter but still pleasant in my opinion.

      Though I do like my coffee black so maybe I just have a liking of bitter tasting items.