Corn Sugar Everywhere! - Frosted Flakes

I know what you're thinking. "Dr. Food Chem, of course frosted flakes are going to have HFCS." But these are not just any ordinary flakes, these are frosted flakes from TRADER JOE'S! For trying to stand apart from other megamarts, TJ's is using the stuff everyone is avoiding like the plague. And they're trying to hide it, too!

That's right - glucose fructose syrup. Did they learn the trade secret from Gatorade? I love how the box claims it comes from wheat AND corn, as if that's going to make us feel any better. Looks like I'll have to find another cereal...

Food for thought: October 28, 2010

Since it is the Halloween season, let's start with a few related links:

What's your favorite Halloween candy? What's the worst? And why does everyone always pick on candy corn? Makes me want to make my own...

Want to know where this connection between candy and the Halloween holiday came from? This article helps explain it a little bit.

With all this candy out there, plenty of talk is still out there about the similarities and differences of HFCS and table sugar. And it's not good for HFCS.

News that can make me gag: I'm not a connoisseur of octopus heads, but South Korea is trying to get on top of the issue of how much is too much.

Move over, Turducken. The Pumpple Cake comes in at 1800 calories... a slice!

And to end on a high note, I wonder how long it takes to devour this gummy worm...

LID-ified: Chocolate Cake

This article is similar to my series of "Altering Alton" but with a low-iodine diet (LID) in mind for those who may have had a thyroidectomy. Why LID? For individuals without a thyroid (most likely as a result of removing cancerous nodules), the body no longer has a great need for iodine, but cancerous thyroid cells do. When an individual goes through a body scan, he/she must remove all iodine from the body. Why? In order to determine if there are any cancerous cells, a radioactive iodine is ingested and binds to any cells that need to take up iodine (like thyroid cells that shouldn't be there). With a body scan, the doctor can see if there are any of these thyroid cells that shouldn't be there.

So how hard can it be on LID? It's not hard as long as you avoid iodine, which is near impossible with a typical Western diet! Nearly everything has to be made from scratch, and I mean everything. One thing that has really helped me with figuring out how to make things for LID has been my work with food chemistry and food preparation classes I teach. From my work, I have really learned to enjoy making LID-friendly chocolate cake.

I derive my variation from Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake, which can be found on the back of the box for Hershey's Cocoa: Natural Unsweetened. I've been able to make this cake application LID-approved by changing a couple of ingredients. First, for milk, I use coconut milk created from dried, unsweetened organic shredded coconut. For eggs, I only use egg whites. For salt, I use non-iodized salt. For vegetable oil, I use canola oil. And I leave out the vanilla extract.

With these substitutions, I can use the application for creating a wonderfully chocolate cake. And of course, you know how I make the frosting from a previous post. I like to add about 1/2 cup coconut milk with enough confectioner's sugar to get the consistency I want (anywhere from 3-4 cups) for a thick chocolate frosting.

So there you have it. Something that is LID-friendly but has the same consistency, texture, and desired consumption by individuals craving chocolate cake without the iodine. Even on LID, you can eat just as well, if not better!

Food for thought: October 18, 2010

If you don't think the EZ Cracker is a bad idea, then here are some more gadgets for you.

In a food fight, who would win: Alton Brown or Adam Richman?

I thought only "1-900" numbers were adult lines. I guess Ocho Cinco didn't think of that when creating cereal.

Fast food as dangerous as heroin? Australia thinks so.

Bacon Kevin Bacon? Sign me up!

What should Conan call this sandwich? I'm thinking Kitchen Sink.

Could there be a Food Wars war? My money's on Camille taking down the Howie Mandel look-a-like.

Corn Sugar Everywhere! - Kidney Beans

You'd never think you'd find HFCS in beans. Why would they need to be sweetened? Go to your local Super Target store (they could be at regular Target stores, as well), go to the canned vegetable aisle and grab a can of Market Pantry (Target's in-store brand) Dark Red Kidney Beans. If I had a picture, it'd be more convincing, but trust me, there's HFCS in the list of ingredients!

Shame on you, Target.

And this has been another astounding rendition of... Corn Sugar Everywhere!

Altering Alton: S'mores

Another post of Altering Alton, but it's more of a modification of the traditional application of s'mores. A concoction of marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker, this fare is typically enjoyed around a bonfire. But I thought you could make it a high-class dessert for cheap (I am a grad student, you know).

So what did I do that was altering the normal application. First, I did use Alton's application for making marshmallows, but I made my marshmallows the size of half of a graham cracker you buy in your local megamart. Nothing deviating from the norm so far.

Second, my initial inspiration for trying to make s'mores inside the apartment came from another Serious Eats recipe for Spicy S'mores. My first attempt at making the chocolate sauce was a huge failure. I had heated up the chocolate to melt it and thought I could add some heavy cream to add volume. Bad idea. When you add cream to melted chocolate, the chocolate will harden quickly. No pictures of this catastrophe (because I threw it out before the SO could grab her camera...whew).

But I wasn't turned away, not just yet. I thought I could try making the chocolate sauce I made for the SO when she was on the low-iodine diet (LID), which involves the recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate frosting on the back of the container for Hershey's Cocoa: Natural Unsweetened. In place of milk, I made coconut milk from dried, unsweetened organic shredded coconut and water. In place of butter, I used canola oil. And I skipped using vanilla. The key to this is adding more coconut milk and less confectioner's sugar than the recipe, er, application calls for. This will make the frosting more like a sauce, which is great for dipping graham crackers.

I covered a cookie sheet with parchment and placed the dipped graham crackers on the sheet and put the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour. Once the chocolate hardened, I put the crackers in a Tupperware and into the fridge until I needed them.

From here, I pre-heated the broiler and put my marshmallows on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. With the cookie sheet near the top of the oven, I waited about 40 seconds and the marshmallows had that burnt crispy layer on top. With two chocolate-dipped graham crackers placed on top of one another, I put the marshmallow on top and drizzled chocolate sauce to make everything look professional.

The verdict: perfection. I would love to make my own graham crackers, and that will be my next experiment. But everyone who had them wanted more, so I must be doing something right.

Corn Sugar Everywhere!

So I've decided I would try pointing up places where you'd least expect to find high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or corn sugar, as the Corn Refiners Association wants this unnatural stuff to be known. This time, I'm pointing it out in something I never thought would have HFCS: ice. That's right, ice. Where might you find HFCS-laden ice? Dunkin' Donuts.

Take a look at the ingredients list of the ice used in making Coolattas, and you'll find the culprit.

Hiding in a place we thought we'd never find, the second item under "Neutral Base". Why would you need to sweeten the ice, D-squared?

Last I checked, ice was needed to keep things cool, not add 10 pounds to my waistline. Shame on you, D-sqaured.

And this has been another astounding rendition of... Corn Sugar Everywhere!