Acidity

[myxsix]

I have read a number of posts regarding acidity in sauce. I found that in making tomato sauces the acid can be a little difficult to nullify. I read in a few posts here that some people use butter to counter the acidity of tomatoes.

Does anyone else have any effective techniques?

I have experimented with baking soda in small quantities to try to nullify the acid.

[itsinthesauce]

Usually an amount of sugar will nulify the acidity.

[tonymark]

Are you using canned tomatoes?  Do they contain citric acid?  This makes the problem even worse.  Check out my review of Bionature Passata  (contains no citric acid) http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2634.0.html.

TM

[Lydia]

I use canned products and have not found anything that worked too well, but sugar seemed work best. I should mention that I haven't tried the butter trick. I haven't like the texture of oil in my pizza sauce so butter just didn't seem like a good idea for me.

I started using Escalon's (6-in-1's and Bella Rosa concentrate). No citric acid and fresh tomato taste. Problem solved!

[David]

Funnily enough I particularly enjoy the acidity .I find it brings a balance to the creamines of a caputo dough and the buttery flavour of the mozzarella / EVOO.Go figure

[myxsix]

I tried butter the other evening in a marinar sauce and it was quite good. It helped to "soften" the acidity and it did not separate as easily from the sauce as oil may - maybe butter has different colloidal properties than olive oil? Perhaps Pete would have an answer to that.

My problem is that I live in Asia and so I just don't have access to the kinds of tomatoes that you guys do. There are a number of Spanish and Italian brand tomatoes that are imported but none that I recognize from the US. Have any of you heard of the following brands of canned tomatoes:

Russo
Valle Del Sole
Annalisa
Sofia
Rinaldi

[Pete-zza]

myxsix,

Many people add sugar to the sauce to help reduce the acidity, but there will usually be some remnant acidity. What some pizza operators do is to add either grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, or both, to their tomato sauces. The butterfat content of the cheeses apparently helps smooth out the sauce and reduce the acidity. The calcium in the cheeses apparently will also help reduce the acidity but, to be effective, the sauce has to be cooked. I suspect that the butterfat content in butter acts like the butterfat in the cheeses. Sometimes the best answer is to simply look for tomatoes that are low in acid to begin with. Unfortunately, that may not be an option where you are in Asia.

I have heard of the Annalisa and Rinaldi tomatoes among the list you presented, but have not tried either. However, I believe the Annalisa tomatoes are DOP San Marzanos.

Peter

[Buffalo]

Good Morning Myxsix;
I read on one of your earlier posts that you lived in Bejin (?) China and was curious as to the availability of pizza in that part of the world.  Do they have fair tasting pizza or are you forced to "make your own" on a routine basis?  My wife visited China some 20 years ago and to hear her tell it you had three food choices - Chinese, Chinese or Chinese.  Of course China has been advancing with the rest of the world and I am sure there have been major changes in their food as well as many other things.  Thanks.......
Buffalo