# Sweet pasta sauce **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363 "2014-02-27T00:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/1 "2014-02-27T00:13:39Z")
Mrs. Plant is trying a new sauce, and it is too sweet for her taste. What can we do about it? Need answer fast! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/2 "2014-02-27T00:21:38Z")
Add a can of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes (NOT tomato paste, which is very sweet), a bunch of salt/pepper, whatever herbs you like in sauce (oregano, basil, etc) and some sauteed onions and garlic. Basically you’re diluting the sugar then adding strong and salty flavors. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/3 "2014-02-27T00:22:14Z")
Add an equal (or “to taste”) amount of the original sauce, minus the sweeteners. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/4 "2014-02-27T00:23:05Z")
Thanks, Hello Again! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/5 "2014-02-28T22:30:11Z")
If I may piggyback: I cooked up some sauce from tomatoes I froze in summer. It is nice and thick, but it’s too sweet. Same suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/6 "2014-02-28T22:45:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Add an equal (or “to taste”) amount of the original sauce, minus the sweeteners. What I was thinking. Double the recipe, omit whatever is sweet. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/7 "2014-02-28T22:48:27Z")
Try a bit of red wine vinegar. ---
**Author:** ![flaming\_yawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@flaming\_yawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flaming_yawn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/8 "2014-03-01T00:34:44Z")
what was the name of the sauce as hubby likes the sweet stuff as I added sugar tonight to the spaghetti sauce … ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/9 "2014-03-01T03:53:07Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > If I may piggyback: > > I cooked up some sauce from tomatoes I froze in summer. It is nice and thick, but it’s too sweet. Same suggestions? That is odd. Tomatoes are acidic, not sweet. I have made sauce from minced fresh tomatoes, the recipe from a Nero Wolfe novel, and it was not at all sweet. Perhaps freezing creates some sugars. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-pasta-sauce/682363/10 "2014-03-01T19:55:31Z")
Tomatoes, though acidic, have inherent sugars; some varieties more than others. Let’s work backwards. Chile heat can be counteracted with sugar; that’s how they grade the Scovill scores. Maybe you could counteract sweetness with heat. However, this might be one of those things that only appears to make sense.