You may have heard about adding carrots to tomato sauce to balance out the acidity with some sweetness, but the idea of adding instant coffee to sauce is largely unheard of.

Most people think of coffee as being naturally bitter, but the truth is, the coffee bean is made up of about 5 to 9% sucrose.

As far as infusing your sauce with sweetness, adding instant coffee works similarly to adding carrots. Unlike carrots, though, instant coffee also acts as a flavor enhancer.

The taste of coffee alone is uniquely earthy, but when you combine it with the seasonings that are usually included in tomato sauce, it results in a more savory, complex flavor.

British grocery store chain Sainsbury's recommends using a teaspoon of instant coffee per 1-pound can of tomatoes.

For best results, Sainsbury's also suggests dissolving the instant coffee in a cup of beef stock before adding it to the sauce.

Make sure that you're actually using instant coffee and not coffee grounds, as instant coffee is dehydrated pre-brewed coffee, so it will easily dissolve in liquid.