I've been making this type of salsa for many years. Some batches are just too overly sweet. I only used one of the roasted onion halves. Is there anyway to control the sweetness of a roasted salsa or is it mostly luck of the tomato draw?
by cheesewit40
19 Comments
I know you probably do, so this is a dumb ask, do you salt your salsa?
Ingredients:
Roma/ San Marzano tomatoes
Onion
Jalapeno
Cilantro
Garlic
Salt
adobo seasoning
Sometimes a lime squeeze but I didn’t have any on hand yesterday.
Is that a white onion? Yellow onions tend to be sweeter. And like you said, depends on the tomatoes.
Maybe use fewer tomatoes?
You could put in some raw tomatillos to make it more tart and less sweet. Not roasting as much will make less sugars develop too.
Red tomatoes tend to be on the sweeter side compared to green tomatoes and you can always add an ancho pepper or a few chile de Arbol peppers with the green tomatoes to turn it red.
I like to add tomato bullion for a more savory flavor since it has pure umami flavor (MSG) * basically made exactly this salsa but without cilantro yesterday. How many cloves of garlic do you use? I use a lot personally lol.
You need a lot more onion. And salt probably
Just don’t roast the onion/use a higher pepper ratio even just Poblano / Anaheim / New Mexico if you don’t want it hot
Not a luck of tomato draw. Put some draws on and add more peppers, if any at all. I believe what you have here great tomato sauce for pizza! 🍕
Salt and lime juice will cut the sweetness
Tomatoes are an agricultural product and can be variably sweet. Same with all those other ingredients. Garlic can have the highest brix of all veg, up to 40% sugar believe it or not, although usually lower. Onions can be pretty variable too and often have more sugar than tomatoes.
I tend to adjust my roasted salsa with apple cider vinegar, lime or Seville orange juice
Also it should be well seasoned with salt as others have mentioned
I typically add half roasted white onion and then stir in diced raw onion to balance the sweetness from that. If the tomatoes are too sweet I balance with salt and lime. I typically use vine ripened tomatoes and usually do not have to correct for flavor.
Use greener tomatoes. I actually prefer my salsa with green tomatoes over red. I usually have a mixture of green slicing and red or green cherry tomatoes though.
not all onions are created equal. if its too sweet, you may be grabbing vidalia onions instead of yellow or white
Salt + fresh garlic, use some amount of fresh not roasted ingredients.
Add some spice
Don’t blend the onion, just chop it and add it at the end. Add lime juice and salt if it´s still too sweet.
Use only Roma’s and where is your heat?