Just a pinch....but I have better results by adding a bit of sugar too...
Linda C

Like Linda, I'd add some sugar. It doesn't take much, either. Also, try draining the tomatoes as much as possible, then add wine and/or water for liquid, instead of the canned juice. I think that tomato juice (not pureed or sauce) is more acidic than the tomatoes themselves.

I've seen a bit of butter suggested for an acidic tomato sauce.

Italians add a bit of grated carrot.

I made chili the same as I always do but I did use a new-to-me generic brand of tomato sauce. I have always used Chili-O (blush) to season the chili. It is the way I learned to make chili and I didn't like the taste when I did the flavoring myself. Either the Chili-O was off or the tomatoes were. I hate to toss the entire pot but it tore my stomach apart last evening. I guess I'll try the sugar first, but I think that may only mask the acidic taste. I really need to adjust the pH.
Nancy

Someone or other puts carrots in for awhile and takes them out saying that they absorb the acid. I don't know if this is real. (As opposed to the cut up carrots one puts in which help to sweeten and mellow the flavor without removing the acid, which does work.)

I've heard that baking soda really will work, but that you have to add tiny amounts and keep tasting because it'll go all wonky and bitter if you use too much. That much tasting could be too painful for you.

You could use red cabbage as an indicator if you wanted to get fancy and save your tum.

Ever tried vinegar?

It can really help with the acid issue AND it tastes great in the sauce. There used to be a readymade sauce available that had vinegar and was delicious, but I can't recall the name.

BTW - Did you know that tomatoes are actually an alkaline food rather than acid? The stomach has to produce more acid to compensate for alkalinity which creates heartburn. Antacids are exactly the wrong thing to take for this problem!

So, as I understand it, adding vinegar (especially apple cider vinegar) helps the stomach create a better balance of alkaline to acid in tomato sauce.

Vinegar info: http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/fruits/appcider.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Alkaline/Acid Food Chart

Sorry....but you stick a piece of litmus paper into a tomato and it will turn pink.....tomatoes are acedic.
Linda C

The link below about acidic foods may help explain the deal with tomatoes:

Tomatoes are less acidic than most fruit - in the 4-4.6 range. Canned tomatoes can be more acidic - 3.2-3.5.

But...

If we switch to consider tomatoes from an acid-forming perspective, it's important to realize that tomatoes are actually considered non-acid forming, i.e., alkaline, in most macrobiotic and Chinese medicine traditions. For example, tomatoes are often viewed as being able to alkalize the blood in these traditions and are sometimes recommended to lower the excessively acidic blood that is understood to be characteristic of gout and rheumatic conditions. From this acid-forming perspective, tomatoes would already be considered alkaline and you would not need to worry about doing anything to them on the stove to increase their alkalinity.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatoes

The acid ash thing is just a theory....we don't "burn" foods and leave "ash".
Foods that are acedic in the stomach and should be avoided in cases of GERD include tomatoes.
And most canned tomatoes contain citric acid to further acedify them.
That's one of the reasons why a tomato sauce made from garden tomatoes can taste sort of blah, if you are used to canned tomatoes in your sauce.
A pinch of baking soda will change the PH of your sauce... sugar will "sweeten" the taste but not change the Ph because a sugar solution is slightly acedic.

Ah, Lindac--My brain likes the chemistry solution. I was recently on a double dose of Protonix because my voice was almost always hoarse and the ENT thought the problem was my reflux. At the same time, my gastro doc was opposed to taking so much Protonix because he says too low a pH in the stomach encourages the overgrowth of certain bacteria. I stopped using inhaled Advair and my throat got better (but the asthma) is now a dilly! I dropped back to one Protonix at bedtime. With the single dose of Protonix I now find a lot of foods cause acid indigestion if eaten many hours after the ingestion of the Protonix. I think I'll have scrambled eggs for supper :-(
Nancy

Milk amd cheese....ergo calcium is a great buffer to acid....and also the fat in the milk coats your stomach....but if you are lactose intolerant....
anyhow...some grated parmesan cheese will make the tomato sauce easier on your stomach. A buffering agent is one which tends to keep ph levels fairly neutral even with the addition of extra acid.
If dairy is OK, try adding a low fat cheese to the mix and see if that helps.
I do know that Advair allows for the over growth of fungal stuff....thrush...
Don't know but wondering if yogurt with active cultures would help....

foodonastump,

Thanks for that great link that discusses the alkaline/acidic characteristics of tomatoes.
It's a little confusing but that article helped
to explain it pretty well.