Alex Guarnaschelli's Hack For Improving The Taste Of Tomatoes Comes From A Surprisingly Sweet Source

Sprinkling salt on tomatoes can improve them in everything from a flavor-packed bruschetta appetizer to a picture-worthy Caprese salad or sandwich. While salt, pepper, basil, and oregano enhance the umami qualities of tomatoes, using sugar can enhance their organic sweetness. Celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli peeled back the curtain on this chef tip that is particularly useful in preparations that tend to dry out food, such as baking, broiling, and grilling. 

As she shared with Vail Daily, Guarnaschelli espouses scattering a scant amount of powdered sugar over your tomatoes. She explains that the cornstarch in powdered sugar reacts with the pectin in tomatoes to bring out more color and sweetness. Granulated sugar is a more common addition to cooked tomato preparations like homemade tomato sauce, as it plays on the natural sugars already present in the tomatoes, but the texture of powdered sugar works well for a variety of cooking applications. 

In her recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes, Alex Guarnaschelli suggests mixing a mere teaspoon of powdered sugar with the olive oil drizzled over every six to eight halved Roma tomatoes before they roast in the oven for an hour. Besides salt and your new go-to powdered sugar move, you can also boost the flavor of tomatoes by adding a pinch of baking soda or balsamic glaze.

In the peak of summer, pervasive and inherently sweet tomatoes may not need much zhuzhing up, but choosing smaller varieties is wise for out-of-season tomato shopping. Having a lower water content than their larger relatives, cherry tomatoes and other heirloom varieties pack a more concentrated flavor and crispness during the cold months. These little fruits are also perfect for cooking with powdered sugar. Crushed cherry tomatoes and powdered sugar can sweeten a bitter wine reduction sauce, or they can be mashed into a bright, summery jam for your crostini.

To really play into the tomato dessert angle, consider trying this combination as an unexpected ice cream topping. The well-developed, almost candy-like flavors of the tomatoes, along with their pleasant acidity, have even earned them a place in Salt & Straw's Farmer's Market ice cream lineup. There's also potential to turn it into a granita, gelato, or Bloody Mary-style popsicle. Get creative by picking up some powdered sugar for your next tomato dish, or easily make your own powdered sugar at home.