Category Archives: ingredients

Bugs In Your Frappucino?

by ingredients, vegetarian
cochineal bugs | photo: Zyance

Starbucks has recently come under fire by vegetarians.  It turns out their strawberry flavored drinks have been changed.  They're using a new ingredient…cochineal extract.  That picture on the left is cochineal bugs.  They're used to make food coloring. Only pregnant females are used; their outer casings are crushed and  processed into food dye, producing a deep red color.

Also referred to as carmine, this  coloring agent has been known to cause severe allergies including urticaria and asthma.  There have also been reported cases of anaphylaxis.

Because it is made from bugs, it is considered a natural food substance and some companies use it in place of petro-chemically derived artificial colors.  Also because it is made from bugs, vegetarians do not eat cochineal.  And I believe this ingredient is considered non-kosher.   However it is appearing in a wider and wider range of foods including yogurts, ice cream, candies, and some beverages.  Cochineal is also finding it's way into cosmetics as a coloring agent.

While I know there are many cultures that eat bugs as part of their diet, they are high in protein, research has not shown that these other edible bugs carry the same allergic potential as the cochineal bug.  I also find it very irresponsible for Starbucks, which advertises that it can made vegetarian friendly drinks, would change it's ingredients without notifying it's consumers.  Even those who are not vegetarian may prefer not to ingest this substance.  And why cochineal in the first place?  There are fruit and vegetable based sources for red coloring such as beets or raspberries which could have been used instead.

Don't want to eat bugs?  Another good reason to read the label.

Pink Slime Clarified

by ingredients, questions, unhealthy, USDA
ground beef | photo: Rainer Zenz

One reader contacted me asking, “What cafeteria food is made with this pink slime stuff?  I've never heard about this and [my son] is now eating in the cafeteria at public school.  He took his lunch every day for four years but not this year.  I was just worried about the nutritional value of what he was eating but now, this is creepy.”

The quick answer to your question is any hamburger product is potentially made with pink slime.  The industry term is actually “lean finely textured beef.”  It is a meat-product made from scraps and trimmings, heated, de-fatted, and treated with ammonium hydroxide.

Current federal regulations say it does not need to be listed as an ingredient and reports suggest that it can be the basis for as much as 50-70 percent of “hamburger” meat.  Although many fast food restaurants are backing away from it in response to consumer disgust, the industry still wants to sell it because it is cheap and profitable.  The USDA has just approved it for school lunches.

News reports indicate that in response to growing outrage by consumers, schools will be allowed to opt out of receiving this product.  Not, however, until next Fall and not until after currently signed contracts have been fulfilled.  I assume there will be schools which will claim they didn't hear from enough families so they signed contracts and it will continue to be available in the school food for some time to come.

There is a petition being sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (started by Houston resident Bettina Elias Siegel who runs the blog The Lunch Tray) urging a ban of pink slime in schools.  Although I no longer have children in the public school system I am furious that my tax dollars are being spent to feed garbage to children and I have signed.

Current research shows that this product is also in grocery stores.  However, once again, because it is not required to be labeled you may not know.  As of today, March 20, 2012, the most recent list I have been able to find indicates the following:

Pink Slime NOT In Grocery Store:

Costco, Whole Foods, HEB, Ingles, and Publix

Pink Slime ALLOWED In Grocery Store:

Safeway, Stop&Shop, Kroger, Giant, Frys (I'm going to assume this includes Randalls since they are owned by Safeway)

Stores Not Responding About Pink Slime:

Walmart, Food Mart, Fred Meyer  (I'm going to assume this includes Sam's Club since they are owned by Walmart)

If your store is on the list for allowing or not responding the ONLY way to avoid purchasing this product is to purchase organic ground beef as it is, to the best of my knowledge, fillers are not allowed under the rules of organic production.

Leap Day Giveaway

by ingredients

Whoo hoo!  We love free stuff.  And there's a great gift on the way to one lucky winner.

The nice folks over at PurelyGreat are offering up a F-R-E-E 50 gram container of Women's Citrus Deodorant.  Made with only four natural ingredients this deodorant contains no aluminum and is vegan friendly.

According to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Skin Deep Database many deodorants have chemicals which are known to be bad for our health.  The EWG lists these chemicals as potentially causing cancer, as endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins, highly allergenic, and or causing organ system toxicity.

If you've been looking for a great smelling product that doesn't have any of these chemicals in it, this may just be the answer for you.  After all, the object is to help you smell better, not to add more chemicals to your daily load.

Here comes the legalese:

1.  This giveaway is limited to the USA and Canada (sorry folks who don't live in either of those countries)
2.  Grains&More makes no guarantees regarding prize delivery and is not responsible for any possible taxes or fees
3.  Grains&More has received no compensation for this announcement
4.  The contest is open for one week from 2/29/12 to 3/06/12
5.  The winner will be chosen at random and all results are final

Good luck!

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Candy Bars

by additives, artificial colors, ingredients, unhealthy
snickers candy bar | photo: FightinG FalcoN

It's in the news.  Mars has announced that it will stop selling king or super-sized candy bars.  They are now only going to sell candy bars with 250 or less calories in them.   Quite honestly I'm annoyed about this announcement.  My initial response is that they are pandering to the public.  In their press announcement the company states, “Mars has a broad-based commitment to health and nutrition.”

I'm not convinced they do.  Let's remember, their job is to sell candy.  And they're going to try to convince you that their candy is a healthier choice than that of another brand.  But whatever they say, and whatever they do, the bottom line is that they need you to buy their candy.

These super-sized candy bars are a problem.  A king-sized snickers bar is supposedly three servings, each one containing 170 calories, 8 grams of fat and 18 grams of sugar.  Eat the whole thing and you are getting a whopping 510 calories, 24 grams of fat and 54 grams of sugar.  Not a good thing.

It's pretty much a given that we are programmed to finish our food.  I'm guessing that the vast majority of people who open a king-size candy bar wind up finishing the whole thing.  In that regard downsizing could be a good thing.  If Mars limits their candy bars to be no more than 250 calories (regardless of how many servings) that's less than half of what king-size candy bar consumers are currently getting.

Before we get all excited about that, however, we have to look at the ingredient list of a snickers bar:

    Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, lactose, skim milk, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milkfat, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean and/or hydrogenated palm kernel oil), lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor

It contains trans fats (remember anything partially-hydrogenated is a trans fat) and that's a problem.  Mars claims that they will eventually be removing these from their products but for now they are still in there.  And they're using what I call tricky math.  The label claims that if you eat one serving of a king-size snickers you get 0g trans fats.  That's because the government allows .49 g and less per serving to be considered zero.  Eat three servings and you could potentially be eating almost 1.5 g of trans fats.  That added up quickly for a product that supposedly had no trans fats at all.

Next we look at the soy lecithin, soybean oil, and corn syrup.  These are, in all likelihood, from genetically modified crops.  Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while know that I am vigorously opposed to the use of GMO's in our food.  Unfortunately the government does not believe that consumers have the right to know what's in their food and does not require manufacturers to label the source.  Better to avoid them to the best of your ability.

Then there's the artificial flavor.  We don't need that, it's not good for us, and we shouldn't be eating it.

So while Mars claims to have a “broad based commitment to health and nutrition” the answer is, not really.

Grape Jelly

by additives, grocery, ingredients, jelly/jam, preserving, ,
Warning: rant ahead!

I'm so aggravated I cannot even tell you.  This morning I went to the grocery store for a few items.  One of them was grape jelly, requested by my daughter. It's her favorite flavor. Since we've moved away from Connecticut we no longer have the same access to wild grapes so I'm no longer making grape jelly.

The grapes that I've managed to find here in Texas have, for the last two years, been very thick-skinned and dry due to the lack of rain so no grapes there either. I did plant grapes in my garden but they're table grapes not jelly grapes so I'm not sure they'd work well.

My frustration? NOT ONE SINGLE jar of grape jelly at the grocery store came without HFCS. Several even had HFCS as the number one ingredient. Seriously? That number one ingredient means that the majority of the jelly isn't even grapes, it's HFCS. That is insane.

First of all grape jelly is incredibly easy to make. Grapes are very high in pectin. Throw them together with a little water, the right amount of sugar, heat to the correct temperature, and voila! Grape jelly!

Even more upsetting to me is the fact that many of the grape jellies at the grocery store come with artificial flavorings.  I'm not exactly sure why as to my mind grapes have a pretty distinctive taste all their own.

Needless to say, I did not buy any grape jelly (luckily she also likes orange marmalade so that's what she got) and I'm going to have to work a little harder to find a good source of either muscadines or concord grapes to start making my own jelly again.

For those who have access to good grapes for jelly making here's a great recipe from the book Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother's Kitchen. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll tell you that this book was written by my mom. I'm not recommending it because she wrote it (honestly). It really is one of my favorite canning/preserving books and my first go-to when I'm looking to make something. 

To get all of the great commentary, hints, and tips you'll have to get the book, but here's the recipe:

Grape Jelly

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 10 C. or more Concord grapes (approximately 8 lbs.)
  • 1 apple (optional)
  • 2 C. water
  • Sugar

Instructions
 

  • Wash the Concord grapes.
  • Cut the apple into quarters -- peel, core, and all -- then chop coarsely.  Set aside.
  • Put a couple of cups of grapes int a large stainless-steel pot, then crush them with a potato masher of the bottom of a clean glass jar.  this provides a small amount of juice and prevents scorching.
  • Add the water.
  • Add the cut-up apple.
  • Heat the fruit mixture slowly to the boiling point, reduce the heat, and simmer until the seeds come free from the pulp.
  • Line a large colander with several layers of damp cotton cheesecloth.  Set the colander over a large pot or bowl and carefully pour the grapes and liquid into it. Allow the free-run juice to drip through the cheesecloth.  You may also use a chinois or jelly bag.  Do not press down on the fruit.
  • Measure the free-run juice.  Process into jelly 4 cups of juice at a time - a smaller batch means the jell point is reached more quickly, resulting in better flavor.
  • Taste a little bit of the juice.  For every 1 cup of reasonably sweet grape juice, measure out 2/3 cup of sugar.  If you used a greater percentage of under-ripe grapes and the juice is on the tart side, you can use 3 or 3 1/2 cups of sugar to 4 cups of juice.
  • Bring juice to a boil then add the sugar.  Boil to the jell point.
  • Fill and process prepared jars.

What’s In Your Water?

by additives, ingredients, labeling, water
Water | Abhijit Tembhekar | Wikimedia Commons

Everyone seems to be drinking more water these days, that's a good thing.  Unfortunately though many kids are drinking flavored water drinks that are presented as healthy.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  They come with names like Vitamin Water and Fruit2O.  Let's not even start with the whole sports drink issue.

I was horrified when the pediatrician told my daughter that she needed to add more water to her diet, suggesting that she start drinking Propel.  My daughter was thrilled and turned to me with a gleeful look on her face that faded when she saw my expression.

I am continually amazed at how manipulated we are by manufacturers.  There is no other way to say this other than to just say it.  Water is water period end of story.  Why are they trying to fancy it up with all sorts of chemical additives for color and flavor, and why are they adding preservatives.  Preservatives?  What's in water than needs preserving?

Are many of us dehydrated?  I believe the answer is yes.  Do we need 8 glasses of water per day?  That depends on what your bio-individual needs are.  If you live in a climate that causes you to lose a lot of moisture or you exercise a lot or you don't eat high moisture foods and take in other liquids it all adds up.  However I also believe that by the time we feel thirsty we are generally more dehydrated than we realize.

Dehydration is known to cause headaches, can lead to worsening asthma, hypertension and other health issues.  Proper hydration is also key to helping the body eliminate toxins.  That is why it's important to make sure that we are getting enough fluids to stay well hydrated.  Breathing, digesting, sweating, and excreting all cause us to lose fluids.

If what we need is to stay well hydrated what we do not need is all of the extra chemicals that come with most packaged water drinks.  Not only that if you look at the label you will see that they are misleading you by claiming to only have a certain number of calories.  What you need to remember is to look at the label and see how many calories are in a serving and how many servings are in a bottle.  One bottle of VitaminWater has 50 calories and 13g of sugar per serving.  The label purports to contain 2.5 servings per bottle.  Most people I know drink the whole bottle; that means 125 calories and over 32g of sugar per bottle.  And those are empty calories.  Providing no nutritional value and not filling you up at all.

Let me give you a hint, there are no calories in water.  If you are looking for a little flavor in your water consider adding a slice of fresh fruit, a squeeze of citrus, a slice of cucumber, or a sprig of mint.  These all add a lot of flavor without adding sugar, calories, “natural flavors”, or other chemicals.  Just drink water.  It's what your body needs.