6 ms·

A related anecdote: when I was a child I visited Italy with my family, and I was astonished at how differently pasta sauce tasted in Italy. I found out much la

A related anecdote: when I was a child I visited Italy with my family, and I was astonished at how differently pasta sauce tasted in Italy. I found out much later that the reason was due to the insane amounts of sugar that are in store bought pasta sauces in the US. The sugar is meant to compensate for the low quality, unripened tomatoes that go into cheap pasta sauce brands. To this day, I refuse to use canned pasta sauce. I’d rather make my own.

lostlogin 9y ago
I wonder if low quality tomatoes have less natural sugar than properly ripened ones, and as such contain less natural sugar? It is insane how much sugar is in some tomato sauces (40% on the last one I checked) but maybe it’s not quite as executive as the label makes it appear.
- qbrass 9y ago
  Tomatoes sold in grocery stores have a mutation that reduces the photosynthesis of the fruit in order for them to ripen more evenly red. It's supposedly responsible for 10-15% less sugar on it's own. Picking them early means even less time for the plant to contribute to the fruit.
  - macawfish 9y ago
    There's also the problem of depleted soil. I bought some organic heirloom tomatoes from Mexico (out of season here) that were as bland and spongy as any McDonald's tomato.
RobertRoberts 9y ago
Comparing Italian food to US food will quickly spiral out of control in anecdote-ville. A good friend of mine gets deathly ill from pasta in the US, but can eat as much as she wants in Italy... (glyphosates is what I suspect here) Also, in Italy, I hear they can just get vine ripened veges almost whenever they want, a bit unfair on the flavor comparison. :(
- macawfish 9y ago
  Someone was explaining to me that wheat in the US is often genetically modified to be more dense (and therefore more profitable) by just copy pasting the genes that make gluten a bunch of times. So that wheat in the US has way more gluten in it.
  - RobertRoberts 9y ago
    I have a friend who works for a GMO company, he said (just this past week) there is no GMO wheat. Anywhere. Yet. fyi. Surprised the crap out of me. Edit: Soy beans and corn are the big GMO crops right now. I am sure there are lots of veges and fruit, but he works in the grain industry, so I have no confirmation on this.
  - phonon 9y ago
    Sort of. Dwarf wheat has some changes from older wheat varieties. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963738/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963738/
    - RobertRoberts 9y ago
      That article is titled with "wheat breeding", I am fairly certain that breeding is not GMO. Some source that says otherwise?
      - phonon 9y ago
        That's the "sort of". How do you define "GMO"? See https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding for example. "Breeding" new plant varieties by creating mutations in existing ones has a long history.
- randomdata 9y ago
  > glyphosates is what I suspect here That is unlikely. https://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp https://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp

lostlogin 9y ago

I wonder if low quality tomatoes have less natural sugar than properly ripened ones, and as such contain less natural sugar? It is insane how much sugar is in some tomato sauces (40% on the last one I checked) but maybe it’s not quite as executive as the label makes it appear.

qbrass 9y ago
Tomatoes sold in grocery stores have a mutation that reduces the photosynthesis of the fruit in order for them to ripen more evenly red. It's supposedly responsible for 10-15% less sugar on it's own. Picking them early means even less time for the plant to contribute to the fruit.
- macawfish 9y ago
  There's also the problem of depleted soil. I bought some organic heirloom tomatoes from Mexico (out of season here) that were as bland and spongy as any McDonald's tomato.

RobertRoberts 9y ago

Comparing Italian food to US food will quickly spiral out of control in anecdote-ville. A good friend of mine gets deathly ill from pasta in the US, but can eat as much as she wants in Italy... (glyphosates is what I suspect here) Also, in Italy, I hear they can just get vine ripened veges almost whenever they want, a bit unfair on the flavor comparison. :(

macawfish 9y ago
Someone was explaining to me that wheat in the US is often genetically modified to be more dense (and therefore more profitable) by just copy pasting the genes that make gluten a bunch of times. So that wheat in the US has way more gluten in it.
- RobertRoberts 9y ago
  I have a friend who works for a GMO company, he said (just this past week) there is no GMO wheat. Anywhere. Yet. fyi. Surprised the crap out of me. Edit: Soy beans and corn are the big GMO crops right now. I am sure there are lots of veges and fruit, but he works in the grain industry, so I have no confirmation on this.
- phonon 9y ago
  Sort of. Dwarf wheat has some changes from older wheat varieties. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963738/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963738/
  - RobertRoberts 9y ago
    That article is titled with "wheat breeding", I am fairly certain that breeding is not GMO. Some source that says otherwise?
    - phonon 9y ago
      That's the "sort of". How do you define "GMO"? See https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding for example. "Breeding" new plant varieties by creating mutations in existing ones has a long history.
randomdata 9y ago
> glyphosates is what I suspect here That is unlikely. https://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp https://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp