Can you guess what food product contains the following ingredients:
Unbleached enriched flour, water, yeast, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, sugar, wheat gluten, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, ascorbic acid, enzymes, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monodiglycerides, soy flour, lecithin, azodicarbonamide, calcium propionate). High fructose corn syrup, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda), datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, dextrose, malt, calcium, pyrophosphate, carrageenan, soybean oil, lecithin, color (annatto/turmeric). Quick shine – water, sodium caseinate (milk protein), propylene glycol, canola oil, methylparaben & propylparaben (preservatives), diacetyl acid esters of mono and diglycerides (emulsifier), sodium polyphosphate, artificial flavor for aroma enhancement, carrageenan, mixed tocopherols added to protect flavor, and nitrogen (propellant).
Sounds appetizing, doesn’t it? Mmmm, mmm, who can’t resist the taste of methylparaben and propylene glycol? Just like grandma’s recipe from the Old Country!
Well, if you hadn’t already twigged it, the answer is BREAD. Sliced white supermarket bread, the kind that you and I buy each and every week to the tune of 2.35 billion pounds per year.
If you didn’t read those links, methylparaben is a sort of acid that is used in cosmetics to “preserve” your skin, and propylene glycol is the primary ingredient in anti-freeze. Now, that’s some fine eatin’!
Or, you know, you could make your own bread with just four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast.
I can’t get up on my high horse about this too much, because I am just as guilty of buying commercially-baked bread as the next guy, but stuff like this really gives me pause to think about what the hell we all eat.
I dunno. I kind of like my bread with a little propellant.
Baking bread has been one of those things I really haven’t dared to try. It sounds simple, but I’m sure there’s something about it I’d mess up and end up with a brick. That said, I have been working up the courage to try “No Knead Bread”.
Sounds easy enough…
The problem with HFCS is that it has invaded
our food supply. Courtesy of the Corn Refiners
Assoc., go to http://www.corn.org/NSFC2006.pdf.
Pages 29-30 list all the foods and products that
contain HFCS. Be prepared to be shocked.
There is hope. StophHFCS.com has compiled
as list of HFCS-free foods. They welcome
additions.
“Invaded” is an understatement, to be sure. I think the awareness of the prevalence of HFCS is growing even among the general public. But I don’t know that people are always aware that far more dangerous products like propylene glycol are also used in commercial food production. Thanks for the link!