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Original poster

Surprised by how few ingredients are in Dolmio?

111 replies

Lonutay · 27/09/2024 15:22

I just had a look at the ingredients list for Dolmio, and it looks like there's no nasties in it at all. That being said, I suppose it still counts as a UPF? Can it still be really bad for you if the ingredients are all natural ingredients?

Ingredients
Tomatoes (80%), Double Concentrated Tomato Paste (8.3%), Onion, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Basil, Garlic, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Parsley, Spice, Herb

OP posts:
Mari2003 · 27/09/2024 20:39

If they have so few ingredients, why do they taste so awful?

JudyLovesToPaint · 27/09/2024 20:46

Obviously I can make a sauce from scratch. If I need a disclaimer.

I've used Dolmio when the kids were kids. I do remember a daughter of my unemployed neighbour telling me her mum makes everything from scratch, as I got home from my work and chucked on a quick bolognaise. I thought I was doing ok but clearly not.

There are worse things could do... (song from Greese).

yipyipyipp · 27/09/2024 20:46

TheBunyip · 27/09/2024 20:26

Some people (lots of them) get home at around 6 or 6.30 and have roughly an hour or so to feed, bathe, talk to, do homework with their children.

Sometimes those people need to feed them quickly and efficiently.

Please can we stop demonising things which make parents lives easier. It doesn’t make you morally superior to know how to make a simple tomato sauce, it means you, for whatever reason, have more time. Good for you. Some people don’t.

Agreed and who wants to spend half of that time making pasta sauce from scratch ffs. A jar won't poison you.

Interested in this thread?

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General food
Howmanyusernames123 · 27/09/2024 20:48

I like the sacla ones. Just checked the ingredient list pleasantly surprised- pretty much what I’d use myself.

and yes to it not being so much the preparation, but the fucking clearing up and washing everything. Pasta and jarred sauce takes one pan, one spoon and 5 mins.

LadyKenya · 27/09/2024 20:56

Homemade tomato sauce can be frozen in containers for up to six months.

CeruleanBelt · 27/09/2024 21:09

I prefer dolmio to homemade pasta sauce. So shoot me.

Ladyof2024 · 27/09/2024 21:18

notacooldad · 27/09/2024 15:39

But I don't want maize starch in my pasta sauce!?

Maize stack is cornflour. It is in so many foods including yogurts, breads, pizzas, gravies, stews, soups etc.
If you eat out at any time, you've probably had maize starch in your food!

Edited

Don't I know it? I'm allergic to corn flour and it has ruled out so many foods for me, from Piccadilly to fruit yogurts comma from curries to packaged soups.

JudyLovesToPaint · 27/09/2024 21:20

CeruleanBelt · 27/09/2024 21:09

I prefer dolmio to homemade pasta sauce. So shoot me.

PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD PRISONER

DannSindWirHelden · 27/09/2024 21:22

Ladyof2024 · 27/09/2024 21:18

Don't I know it? I'm allergic to corn flour and it has ruled out so many foods for me, from Piccadilly to fruit yogurts comma from curries to packaged soups.

Show quote history

That sounds like an absolute pisser. Really rare allergy to a ubiquitous foodstuff. You poor thing.

smalltoe · 27/09/2024 21:29

@Falsenegative

Modified maize starch isn’t cornflour - it’s been modified to change the properties.
Unless you never eat or drink yoghurts, soft drinks, shop bought biscuits or snacks, juice ce drinks, shop bought bread or a tin of baked beans, you really shouldn't be angsting over some modified maize starch.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 27/09/2024 21:31

OldieButBaddie · 27/09/2024 16:51

Here is a review of tomato sauces from the Torygraph, some have no UPF ingredients

Tesco Hearty Food Co. Tomato & Herb Pasta Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Looks semi opaque and flour-thickened and the flavour is minimal; a hint of stale herbs and a horrid claggy texture.
Result: 0 out of 5
Asda Just Essentials Bolognese Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Vile. Like a dab of tomato purée mixed with water and cornflour, plus some forgotten old dried herbs.
Result: 0 out of 5
Aldi Everyday Essentials Pasta Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Looks terrible, beige orange, exactly as you’d expect flour-thickened tomato sauce to look. Bitter and weirdly glossy.
Result: 0 out of 5
Dolmio Original Bolognese Sauce
£2.50 for 500g at Sainsbury’s (50p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid.
This was one of the few sauces that specify to add meat, which given the time that takes, you might as well add a tin of chopped tomatoes instead. It tastes cloying with no complexity or depth, bar a hint of musty herb flavour. You can do so much better at the price.
Result: 1 out of 5
Waitrose & Partners Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£3 for 475g (63p/100g)
UPF ingredients: citric acid.
Shows promising lumps of tomato and cubes of carrot but there’s almost no flavour! Just a bitter afternote.
Result: 1 out of 5
Morrisons Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£1.59 for 725g (22p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch.
A bit sickly and too tangy. Not good.
Result: 1 out of 5
Lidl Simply Tomato & Herb Pasta Sauce
39p for 440g (9p/100g)
UPF ingredients: Modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Thin and orange. No flavour. Pretty awful but doesn’t have such nasty thickening as some others, which scores it a point.
Result: 1 out of 5
Essential Waitrose & Partners Bolognese Sauce
£1 for 340g (29p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid.
Quite a lot of tomato skin in this, and the sauce has a dried herb flavour while being quite sharp and vinegary. It tastes thin and metallic, not very balanced on its own, but could be good with very rich meat.
Result: 2 out of 5
Waitrose Duchy Organic Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce
£2.50 for 290g (86p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
The chilli is lovely but there is not much else going on. Some sweetness but not enough tomato flavour.
Result: 2 out of 5
Crosta & Mollica Fresh Basil & Tomato
£3 for 340g at Waitrose (88p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
This is mellow and is on the sweet side, perhaps from the carrots used in the mix. It’s oddly gloopy, despite there being no starch listed as an ingredient, so maybe it’s from the starch in the carrots?
Result: 2 out of 5
Heinz Sundried Cherry Tomato & Basil Sauce
£2 for 350g at Tesco (57p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none but apple juice for sweetener.
Not a rich flavour, just tangy in a sickly way, with hard lumps of veg.
Result: 2 out of 5
De Cecco Sugo alla Napoletana
£2.95 for 400g at Ocado (74p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
A bit starchy tasting. Rich but not a lot of flavour and there is a soapy back note. Herbs are restrained though.
Result: 2 out of 5
M&S Food Classic Tomato Everything Sauce
£2.10 for 340g at Ocado (62p/100g)
UPF ingredients: citric acid.
Made in Italy, and it delivers a good, intense, almost caramelised tomato flavour. It doesn’t taste that fresh, though, and there are some hard bits.
Result: 3 out of 5
Lidl Baresa Bolognese Pasta Sauce
49p for 500g (10p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch, citric acid.
Gloopy, but looks rich. There is some balance to the flavour; it tastes industrially produced but not terrible at this price.
Result: 3 out of 5
Aldi Specially Selected Cherry Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce
£1.49 for 340g (44p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid, calcium chloride.
Lower in salt than the others and it tastes weirdly under seasoned to me but will suit others well; you can always add a pinch of salt. There’s a big bit of skin and a hard lump of tomato core in the sample I try. I like the pleasing slick of olive oil on top – it’s rich. Vastly better than Dolmio and a lower price.
Result: 3 out of 5
Rustichella d’Abruzzo Pomodoro e Basilico
^£3.99 for 270g from Odysea (£1.47/100g) ^
UPF ingredients: none.
Very mellow. It tastes posh, if a little bit confected. Comes out mild when teamed with pasta; some nice lumps.
Result: 3 out of 5
Mr Organic Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£3 for 350g at Waitrose (86p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
No added sugar but still very rich – just a bit too heavy handed with the herbs to eat straight; better with meat.
Result: 3 out of 5
Loyd Grossman Tomato & Basil Sauce
£4.50 for 660g at Ocado (68p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
Sweet and confected, but also so savoury I’d have assumed it has anchovies in it. Not much tomato flavour, though the basil comes through. Doesn’t taste artificial. Tiny kick of peppery heat which is nice.
Result: 3 out of 5
Asda Extra Special Bolognese Sauce
£1.80 for 340g (53p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid.
Lots of umami oomph but that dried herb note is there, too. It tastes a tiny bit soapy on its own but works OK with the pasta.
Result: 3 out of 5
Tesco Bolognese Sauce
95p for 500g (19p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
Very tomatoey and quite fresh-tasting, with no musty herb flavour, this is well balanced. The ingredients list is pretty good – it’s got cornflour in, but at least it’s not modified starch.
Result: 4 out of 5
Mutti Pasta Sauce with Rossoro Tomatoes and Parmigiano Reggiano
£3 for 400g at Ocado (75p/100g)
UPF ingredients: “natural flavourings”.
Very parmesan-y, although the sweetness of the tomato comes through. Yummy enough to eat out of the jar but you’d have to like the taste of parmesan.
Result: 4 out of 5
Aldi Cucina Smooth Tomato Sauce
69p for 500g (18p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch, citric acid.
Fresh-tasting like a simple homemade sauce, tomatoey in flavour with some nice textured lumps. Versatile enough to be used in lots of different dishes.
Result: 4 out of 5

Interesting! Almost none of them are any good, then. It's not the ingredients that put me off jarred sauces, it's the heat processing, I think. It gives them a very artificial taste. I'd rather have pesto.

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