Mondo Knows Facts
Canned tomatoes are already cooked, which changes them
Heat breaks down cell walls and turns the fruit softer and more savoury
Tomatoes are canned with heat treatment that gelatinises pectin and softens the flesh, so a tin is effectively a pre-cooked sauce base. In a long-simmered dish that saves time and gives a rounder flavour than fresh fruit added late. Pastes and passata are cooked down further to concentrate colour and glutamates.
Where this comes from
Food and Agriculture Organization
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Tags: tomatoes, canning, sauce
Canned tomatoes are already cooked, which changes them: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Heat breaks down cell walls and turns the fruit softer and more savoury. The figure is taken from Food and Agriculture Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
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