Rescuing an over-sour dish
Sour taste comes from acids in the food. You can't pick them out, but sugar and fat change how sharp the dish tastes. A tiny pinch of baking soda, which is a base, neutralizes some of the acid.
The baking soda option
Baking soda is alkaline, so it reacts with acid and fizzes as it releases carbon dioxide. Use a small pinch, stir, and taste. Too much leaves a flat, soapy taste that is worse than the sourness.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
A tomato sauce tastes sharp and puckery. What is the gentlest first fix?
Add a pinch of sugar and taste again. Sweetness balances sour, and small steps stop you overshooting.
True or false: Fat such as butter or cream makes a sour sauce taste softer.
True. Fat coats the tongue and softens the bite of acid, which is why cream mellows tomato soup.
Fill the blank: Baking soda is a ___, so it neutralizes some of the acid in a sauce.
Baking soda is a base, so it neutralizes some of the acid in a sauce. A base reacts with an acid, which lowers the sourness.
What went wrong? You stir a full spoonful of baking soda into a sour sauce. It foams, then tastes soapy.
A pinch was enough; a spoonful overshoots neutral. Past the point where the acid is used up, extra soda tastes soapy.
Why does sugar make a sour sauce taste milder?
Sweetness balances sourness on the tongue. The two tastes offset each other, so the sauce reads as balanced.