— Lynne Wetherill

So tomatoes, generally speaking, um, you know, will land, uh, some sweetness, uh, and or acidity. Uh, they'll land color. Uh, there's certainly the flavor, uh, that goes along with tomatoes. And then, um, you know, very often there's some element of umami when it comes to the taste, uh, characteristic. And so if we just kind of go down that list and pick off those characteristics, you know, color could be substituted with a red bell pepper, uh, sweetness from something else that's sweet. You know, it could be a butternut squash, it could be a little, uh, pinch of, um, brown sugar honey. Um, if it's acidity, maybe it's a gentle, uh, uh, um, uh, squeeze of lemon juice or a little dollop of tamarind or coum or some other, um, souring agent. And, uh, you know, if it's umami, maybe you're, uh, introducing a little bit of, uh, miso paste, or maybe it's soy sauce, or it could be mushrooms or mushroom liquor, uh, which is the liquid that, uh, results from simmering mushrooms, uh, you know, with a lid on, um, that flavorful, flavorful, um, uh, liquid we refer to as mushroom liquor. And, uh, that's a great source of umami. Um, I mean, the, the flavor of tomatoes are kind of unique to tomatoes, but you might just, you know, find something else that you enjoy in its place. Okay? So hopefully, uh, you know, that approach, uh, is helpful, uh, you know, in stimulating some thought around how you might substitute, um, uh, in this category.