Spaghetti sauce recommendations

[Cameraman Jenn]

I am a low salt girl. I can't eat things if they are too salty.

[Zarathustra]

I am a low salt girl. I can't eat things if they are too salty.

Well, this goes without saying. I can't eat it if it's "too salty," either. But this cry for low sodium is puzzling to me. Can you eat Tostitos chips? McDonald's fries? Those are undeniable salty foods, but they taste fine to me. And given the sales of these food industry giants, I'd say a lot of people have a fondness for salty foods.

I did a preliminary taste test with some Ragu we had in the cabinet (I'm going out later to buy a bunch more different brands). That stuff is horrid. It's about on the same level as Chef boy-arr-dee. Besides the overpowering sweetness, I think I've identified the taste that I hate so much about this cheap stuff: the cheese. I don't know if it's because they use a low quality cheese, or if I don't like cheese in my sauce at all. I don't add any to mine. As a kid, we always garnished it with grated parmesan, but I haven't used it in years. I know it sounds like heresy, but I prefer it without that flavor, which to me seems to mask the other flavors.

I noticed that the rest of you use cheese in your recipes. So I'm worried that this taste is considered an integral part of the flavor profile in many people's minds, or if they'll sense it's absence as something makes mine unique (in a good way!).

[Edit: after checking Classico's Tomato and Basil ingredients, I see they don't add any cheese either. So perhaps this isn't a "requirement."]

[Menolly]

(You'd be surprised how salt interacts with sour to moderate it better than, say, sugar.) I'm not saying that it hits you in the face with saltiness. I'm just saying that I put in just a tiny bit more than the "perfect" amount when tasted alone (without pasta), so that when I add the pasta it doesn't taste bland.

Somewhere I once heard the phrase...

Salt is the one item that will ruin a dish if there is too much or too little put in it.

...or something to that affect.

I think ali avoids salt for health reasons. Jenn may have just not been raised on using much salt.

Anyway, I just got back from Publix, where I verified the brands of the sauces that don't have corn syrup in them. Most of these are pretty good, but they also cost like $8.00 for a quart jar.

Alessi (imported from Italy)
Rao's
Mom's (made by Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods)
Dell'Amore
Gia Russa
LaFamiglia DelGrosso
and...Publix Premium (not the regular Publix brand sauce in a jar) $2.79

Hope this helps, Malik.

[Zarathustra]

Well, I bought the best Walmart had to offer, each about $2 a quart jar. I tried to pick those which had ingredients closest to mine, which ended up being 4 different tomato and basil sauces. I think in terms of the market I'd like reach (the largest possible), a Walmart "premium" is where I'd like to aim, instead of something pretentious and gourmet (though possibly much better). I know my ingredients are cheap, so I would probably be able to price it about the same--though that's completely a guess.


Newman's Own Organic Tomato and Basil: everyone in my family agreed this was the worst. Horrible plastic artificial flavor. Also the sweetest of the bunch. Sickeningly sweet.
Bertolli Tomato and Basil: my third favorite. I like the big, visible bits of garlic. But there's something artificial in there that is very nasty. I want to describe it as "dog food" flavor, but I have no idea how that tastes. Also too sweet.
Classico: my second favorite, though very close to the 1st. Basically, it won high scores because nothing was offensive. Nice robust tomato flavor, with a basil flavor that didn't overpower. Nice garlic. Everything tasted fresh without that gross artificial flavor of the last two. This was also the least sweet, which was in the ballpark of where I like it (though I prefer still less sugar).
Barilla: 1st place. I liked how chunky this was; chunks of tomato and onion. But too much basil flavor (though the basil tasted very fresh). Also a tad too sweet. Nice garlic without being overwhelming.

I suppose none of you will be surprised that my family and I liked mine the best. Orders of magnitude better. Now the next step is to try it on friends and family.

[Menolly]

I suppose none of you will be surprised that my family and I liked mine the best. Orders of magnitude better. Now the next step is to try it on friends and family.

*nodding*

You're right, I'm not surprised.

However, keep in mind your sauce was made fresh, not in gigantic batches, and has not been processed once packaged to be shelf stable. I really have no idea if those three things affect taste, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

I do look forward to continuing to read about the process you go through to bring it to market if you continue to persue it Malik