The Fresh Blog
Just what is High Fructose Corn Syrup?
I never thought I would be a label reader, looking for things like High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), things that I can’t pronounce, or just a general lack of nutrition. I have to admit, when I was a kid, we drank Tang; remember that stuff? It was good because the astronauts were drinking it, right?
Speaking of HFCS, do you know what it is? How it’s made and why there is a fuss about it? You can Google it and see all kinds of articles and rant telling one story or the other. Rather than siding with one of them, I will just state some simple facts here about HFCS – what it is, how its made, and what it does.
The sugar normally contained most in corn is glucose. In order to make HFCS, an enzyme is added to change a certain amount of the glucose into fructose, which is just another type of simple sugar that has a much stronger sweet flavor because of its chemical make-up. Different percentages of fructose to glucose ratios are used in different products. For example, HFCS 55 is about 55% Fructose and 45% Glucose, commonly found in soft drinks; HFCS 90 is 90% Fructose and 10% Glucose, which is massively sweeter in flavor and is used only in very small amounts and in very special applications. The reason that HFCS exploded into replacing simple cane or beet sugar in the US is because of corn’s explosion into the American food supply. It is much more lucrative to mass produce corn than it was to process beets or import cane sugar.
If you want to learn a little more about why it came about and what part corn has played in American history, I urge you to check out King Corn, which is a documentary about these two friends who cultivate and harvest one acre of corn and dig up some dirt on how corn is subsidized by government funding. For you bookworms out there, check out Michael Pollen’s books and articles to learn more about the workings of food, the secrets behind the food industry, and the food culture of America in general.
Though I don’t like to reference Wikipedia, because it’s Wikipedia, here is a link to some information on HFCS.
At Fresh Madison Market, we hope to offer some healthy alternatives and pay attention to products you are looking for–from alternative proteins, grains, and starches to good old fashioned fresh veggies, great food for you to nourish your mind, body, and life with.
This week’s food & wine chatter !
You might have heard of the terms “nose” when someone talks about wine. If a wine has a strong musk or scent, it is said to have a lot of nose. The combination of bleu cheese, Italian red wine, and dark chocolate makes you think it could have a lot of foot instead. Speaking of that, have you tried the combination of Chocolate and Bleu Cheese ? That’s a pretty strong combination.
If you don’t like bleu cheese or if you want a friendlier cheese, it might be worth diving into double and triple cream brie. Examples are St André, Délice de Bourgogne, or a true crown of the brie world in my opinion, Explorateur. The first two are very nice examples of cheese to break you into Bries. They offer a very rich, delicate and non-offensive taste to a new taster. As long as you stay away from the rind, they are rather mild to the nose and have a very pretty taste. Explorateur has a bit more of a nose to it, but is very complex and beautiful. All three cheeses will play nicely with sweet apples, honey, and a nice Viognier that is bright and clean.
