I was explaining this to my daughter in quite simplified terms the other day- we evolved to taste sugar and enjoy it because finding a sweet edible plant meant we had a source of energy to help us hunt that day. Pretty useful if you’re a hunter-gatherer.

So we seek out sugar. Now we can get it whenever we want it, in much more massive quantities than we are supposed to be processing. Most of us are addicted. I’m not an exception.

  • BreadOven@lemmy.world
    40·
    8 days ago

    You get it from different sources. Breakdown of onions and as someone else mentioned, carrots. Balsamic vinegar has some. There’s other sources as well, I’m just blanking on them.

    But agreed, I rarely add actual plain sugar to my pasta sauces.

    • thenextguy@lemmy.world
      162·
      7 days ago

      I don’t put anything like that in my sauce. Tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, herbs and spices.

      I think cooking it for hours tends to lower the acidity a bit.

      But I think I just like it that way.

      • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        8 days ago

        Your sauce will still have less sugar than others, but if I understand correctly, simmering for hours will break down the more complex sugars in tomatoes into simpler sugars resulting in a somewhat sweeter taste

        I think cooking does also dull the percieved acidity of food though, hence lemon juice or other acids often being added at the end so as to keep the brightness. But I’m not actually sure if the pH changes or if it’s just a change in the tartness we associate with acidity, maybe someone can chime in with more information :)

        • rhombus@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          7 days ago

          The actual acid (acetic in vinegar, citric in citrus and tomatoes) actually boils off with the water. So a long simmer actually removes the acid and changes the pH of the dish.

          • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            7 days ago

            Oh shit, that’s super interesting! Really appreciate you sharing that, now I wanna go read more about that some time!

    • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      8 days ago

      Yes, but aren’t those sugars much different (read: better) than refined cane sugar (or worse: HFCS)?

      • RonnieB@lemmy.world
        81·
        8 days ago

        Sugar is sugar, but it’s better that you’re getting vitamins and fiber from those plants as fiber will slow the rate of absorption.

        • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          8 days ago

          Fair and excellent point.

          What I failed to articulate originally was that a lot of food already naturally contains sugar in some form, so adding in more sugar (like cane sugar or HFCS) is what makes it bad for you.

    • KurtVonnegut@mander.xyz
      2·
      8 days ago

      But is the sugar of broken down (caramelized) onions the same sugar? As in, would the jar with sugar next to my meal to show me how much sugar I’m eating fill up as the onions caramelize?

      • BreadOven@lemmy.world
        2·
        3 days ago

        Not sure about the jar portion. But the caramelization process is a bit complicated. It uses free sugars and amino acid to make the brown, caramelized flavour.

        Onions are ~9 % carbohydrates with 4 % of that being simple sugars capable of caramelizing. Apparently another 2 % is fibre, leaving ~3 % being more complex carbohydrates I guess? Like cellulose or starches maybe. Those can get broken down at some points, but as far I know, need enzymes to do so.

        But back to your question, if the small glasses are showing “sugar” as in sucrose, the onions could have either sucrose maybe? Or individual sugars such as glucose and fructose (the 2 components of sucrose). There’s a number of other single sugars that could make up that 4 % though.